A Magically Loud Christmas
by Timothy D
Summary: A sequel to “Who Says 13 is Unlucky” as we join the Louds and their friends celebrating their Christmas at the Most Magical Place on Earth


**Prologue**

Few things compare to the magical feeling that just seems to arise whenever Christmas rolls around. The sight of freshly fallen snow on the ground, bright lights hung from houses and decorated trees just seemed to light up the world in a way that couldn't be accurately described. When Christmas season rolled around, people felt friendlier, the atmosphere felt warmer in spite of the cold temperatures, and the world as a whole felt more peaceful and innocent. It helped that everyone had something to look forward to, such as children anticipating the presents they'd receive to families looking forward to the time they'd spend together. Few things could ever be compared to that wholesome, magical feeling that rolled around in December.

For the Loud family, their Christmas began two weeks early at the 13th birthday party of one of their family friends, Chris Taylor Jr. It had been a hectic but fun party, full of fun, games, and music. There was teasing amongst friends, jokes from the pun makers, and friendships nearly ended via Smash Bros that only survived because you can't disown your sister when you live in the same house as her. It was an overall fun event with everyone having a good time and leaving the party with smiles on their faces.

The two people who left the party with the biggest smiles on their faces were the birthday boy, Chris himself, and his best friend, Lynn Loud Jr. Of course, you'd be pretty happy too if you discovered that the object of your affections shared the same feelings towards you that you did towards them. While the two hadn't out and out come out and confessed their feelings to each other, through some clever eavesdropping and a rather hands on test, the two were able to confirm something that they'd truthfully known from the moment they first met each other. They were a single step away from being officially recognized as a couple. For Lynn however, it wasn't as simple as merely coming out and saying "I really like you, will you be my boyfriend?". She had something special that she wanted to present to Chris to kickstart their relationship. Something that would make it clearer than words ever could have just how much he meant to her. She had flaked out of giving Chris this present at his birthday party partially to avoid taking the attention away from him on his special day and partially because she figured Christmas would be a more fitting and magical time to take their friendship to the next level.

There were still 2 weeks until Christmas and fortunately for the Loud family, they'd be spending their Christmas vacation at the happiest place in the world, Disney World. This trip had been planned for months and was set up by Chris' parents. It would be the perfect getaway for the festive season and serve to give the Louds and some of their friends a more unique and fun holiday celebration. There were a few caveats to this vacation such as the fact that not every one of the Louds' friends could afford to tag along for varying reasons. Clyde was visiting one of his father's extended families for the holiday while Sam and Benny respectively were traveling cross country to meet with their families as well. Even without these companions tagging along, it was still going to be a large party travelling together, consisting of the entire Loud family, Chris, his sister Scotia, and his parents, his cousins Sid and Adelaide, Ronnie Anne and her brother, Bobby and Lio's friend Kat, equaling 23 people in total.

For this reason, it was decided that the group would travel by plane and then use two rental vans as their primary methods of transportation. The night before they were set to head to the airport, the Louds were busy packing their bags. Lynn in particular was making sure she had everything she needed as well as the one item she couldn't forget. It was the first thing she'd packed in her suitcase to make sure it wasn't left behind. Lynn was interrupted from her thoughts when she heard a knock at the door.

"Ready for tomorrow, sis?" Lio asked.

"What kind of question is that?" Lynn replied. "Of course I'm ready. I'm always ready!"

"What about Christmas?" Lio asked. "I know it's still a couple weeks away, but it's never too early to prepare… especially for, well you know…"

"I'm not going to back out this time," Lynn told him, asking Lio "Are you sure that I should do this?"

"It's either now or never," Lio said. "I mean, you're the one who once told me and Lincoln that we should always be fearless."

"Yeah, but this is different," Lynn said. "I'm talking about asking my best friend of 8 years to be my boyfriend. Either he says yes and we become a thing or he rejects me and things just become awkward. No matter what, nothing is going to be the same after this."

"He's not going to reject you," Lio tried easing her fears. "I don't need the ability to see the future to tell you that. He really lo-,"

"Don't say the L word," Lynn said. "That just makes things weird."

"I'm just saying," Lio said with a shrug. "He really likes you and I don't know what else to call it." Lio averted his gaze and added "Plus, you two look really cute together."

"That doesn't mean he likes me," Lynn replied, being so caught up in the situation that she didn't even make a comment about Lio referring to her as cute like she normally would have.

"Yare yare daze," Lio sighed. "You can really be oblivious sometimes…"

"So can you," Lynn retorted.

"What do you mean?" Lio asked.

Lynn smirked at Lio and asked "How are you and Kat getting along?"

"There's nothing going on between us if that's what you're implying," Lio said.

"Yeah right," Lynn scoffed. "At least Lincoln and Ronnie Anne recognize that they like each other, even if they tease each other over it."

"Kat and I are just friends," Lio insisted. "Nothing more, nothing less."

"Sure you are," Lynn teased him.

"Oh gee, look at the time," Lio said, glancing down at his imaginary watch. "I've gotta go finish packing!"

With that, Lio dashed out of the room, heading to his and Lincoln's room. As he did so, he remarked "Why would Kat like a loser like me anyway?"

"I can think of a few reasons," Luan said, startling him.

"I can't," Lio replied. "It's not like I have anything going for me."

"You sell yourself way too short," Luan told him before giggling. "It's actually kinda funny."

"What is?" Lio asked.

"Call it big sister intuition, but I have a feeling that Kat likes you as more than just a friend," Luan said, smirking at Lio and adding "And if I know you, then you likely feel the same way about her." Before walking off.

"I hate to admit it, but she's right," Lio thought to himself as he walked into his and Lincoln's room to finish up his packing. Similar to Lynn, he had also bought a special Christmas gift for his best friend. He'd known Kat for almost a year now and he wanted to give her something that let her know how much she meant to him. This time it was Lio's turn to doubt a sibling's assertion. "I just hope she's right about the Kat liking me back part too."

"Are you okay, Bro?" Lincoln asked, snapping Lio out of his stupor.

"Huh, oh um yeah, bro, I'm fine!" Lio said quickly. "Just thinking about tomorrow is all."

"Nervous about the plane ride?" Lincoln asked.

Lio shook his head. "As long as our pilot isn't Joseph Joestar, I'm fine," he said with a laugh.

"By the way, I know you're not exactly big on being in crowded places, but do you think you could maybe not spend this entire vacation cooped up in our hotel room like you usually do?" Lincoln asked.

"Don't worry, I won't be staying hidden in our hotel this time," Lio said, grumbling under his breath "Kat said she wasn't going to let me."

Lincoln shot his twin a teasing sly smile and said "Wow Lio, I knew that you and Kat were lovebirds, but I didn't think you'd let her control you like that…"

"We're not lovebirds!" Lio yelled, face blushing bright red as he hit a laughing Lincoln in the face with a pillow. "I swear between you, Lynn, and Luan…"

"Dude, it's not our fault that everyone can see that there's obvious chemistry between you two," Lincoln said. "Seriously, even Leni can see it."

"Yare yare daze," Lio sighed. "She's my best friend, Lincoln. I'm not going to ruin that by pursuing some silly feelings that could jeopardise our relationship."

"You're starting to sound like Lisa," Lincoln said. "Also, I noticed that you didn't deny having a crush on Kat…"

"Y-Yeah, w-w-well you didn't deny having feelings for Ronnie Anne at the party!" Lio shot back.

"Classic deflection," Lincoln teased. "It's okay, bro. You don't have to be ashamed of how you feel."

"This discussion is over," Lio said, carefully placing Kat's gift in his suitcase before closing it shut and climbing into his bed. "Goodnight Lincoln"

The following morning, the Louds reported to the airport to catch their flight. They quickly met up with Chris and his family/friends at the airport and did a thorough check to make sure they had everything. The seating arrangement proved to be rather unique, with a few of the siblings making sure they'd end up sitting next to their closest friends. Lori, predictably, would be sitting next to Bobby, Lincoln would be sitting in the same row as Ronnie Anne and Sid, Lynn would be sitting next to Chris, and Lio would be sitting next to Kat. It was funny how things ended up working out for the "oblivious lovebird" trio of Lynn, Lincoln, and Lio.

The flight itself was rather easy going and laid back with everyone doing their own thing to occupy the long flight. In particular, Lincoln had brought along his Switch and took turns with Ronnie Anne and Sid playing Breath of the Wild, Lynn and Chris talked to each other about all the things they planned on doing during the trip while reading each other all the same while Lio sketched out drawings on his tablet while Kat watched, the two of them being too shy to speak aloud in the fear of annoying the others. When the plane finally touched down, everyone was feeling a bit jet lagged and couldn't wait to get off. Once they were off, it was only a matter of waiting for Lynn Sr. and Chris' father, Crash, to pick up the two rental vans the group were going to take to the Disney World Resort (specifically Disney's All Star Sports Resort) they were staying at. The girls were to sleep in one suite while the guys slept in another next door.

"Wow, this place is amazing," Leni said when the Loud family saw their room.

"Indeed," Lisa said. "We're fortunate that Chris' family financed the trip because otherwise it would likely take years to accumulate enough to stay at a resort like this."

"I call dibs on the Queen bed!" Lola said, immediately leaping on said bed.

"I'll sleep under the bed," Lucy said in her monotone.

"Whoa, check out the view from here!" Sid said from the balcony. "I think I'll sleep out here under the stars."

"Sid, I don't think that's very wise," Ronnie Anne told her.

"Hey, we can see the guys' balcony from here," Sid said, pretending to wave at someone. "Hey Lincoln!"

"Lincoln?" Ronnie Anne asked, coming out onto the balcony to see that there was no one on the adjacent balcony.

"Just kidding," Sid said with a giggle. "But boy, you should've seen how fast you came running when you thought Lincoln was there. So much for not liking him, huh?"

"Shut up before I throw you off," Ronnie said, blushing from embarrassment.

"Not going to lie, I'm kinda envious of the guys," Luna said.

"Why?" Asked Lana.

"Seventeen girls having to share one 2 room suite with 3 beds while they only have 6 guys to their suite," Luna said. "It's going to feel a little crowded in here."

"Eh, nothing that I'm not used to," Lynn said, alluding to her overnight trips to other cities as part of Royal Woods' baseball team. "This is child's play. Try sharing one hotel room with one bed with 20 other girls."

"There's hotel-ling about you, but I think it's pretty suite sharing a room like this," Luan joked, eliciting groans from the others.

"I think I'm going to go ask the guys if I can stay with them," Lynn said in response to Luan's joke.

"Trying to take a peek at your Christmas gift, huh?" Luan giggles, earning her a pillow to the face from Lynn.

Meanwhile, the guys were just as awestruck by how awesome their suite was as the girls were.

"Gentlemen…" Lincoln said to Lio, Chris, and Bobby. "I think it's safe to say that despite being outnumbered, we got the better deal by far."

"Amen to that!" Bobby agreed as the boys fistbumped.

"Well to be fair, there's plenty of space for all of us," Chris pointed out. "Do you think we should maybe offer to let a few of the girls bunk with us?"

"Nah," Lincoln said, wrapping an arm around Chris' shoulder and telling him "This is an all guys' zone without any girls to make us soft."

"Oh please, Linc, we all know Ronnie Anne makes you anything but soft," Lio joked, causing Lincoln to blush bright red and the room to fall into an awkward silence.

"Um… dude, could you not talk about my sister like that?" Bobby asked.

"What do you mean?" Lio asked in response before realizing what he said and how it could be interpreted. "Oh my DIO, no! I meant that Lincoln has to be tough to keep up with Ronnie Anne!"

"Well done, Lio, you made things weird," Lincoln said as Lynn Sr and Crash snickered. "You don't see me making those kind of remarks about you and Kat even though the same is likely true."

"It was a mistake!" Lio yelled. "I didn't mean it like that!"

"Alright boys, calm down," Lynn Sr said.

"If it's any consolation, I know you wouldn't intentionally make a joke like that," Chris said, patting Lio on the back.

"Thanks," Lio said. "Anyway… I think I'll sleep on the balcony tonight."

"Why?" Bobby asked.

"No reason," Lio lied as he texted Kat and told her how they could chat with each other from the adjacent balconies during the night.

"Hey, we've got some time left in the day and the weather is nice," Lincoln said. "What do you say we head down to the pool for some chillaxing?"

"I'm down," Chris said. "Sounds like it would be fun."

"I could go for a swim too," Bobby said. "I know Florida is warm, but I wasn't expecting these kind of temperatures during winter."

"That's global warming for you, what can you do?" Lincoln quipped before asking his brother. "You coming with us, Lio?"

"Nah, no thanks," Lio declined. "I think I'll just stay here and watch a little TV."

"Totally didn't see that coming," Lincoln said sarcastically. "What about you, dad? You wanna tag along?"

"Sure," Lynn Sr. said. "I could use a nice swim after spending all that time on the plane"

"And then spending all that time driving," Crash added. "I'm in."

"Great, I'll text Lynn and see if she and the others wanna come with," Chris said.

"You sure you wanna stay here, Lio?" Lincoln asked.

"I'm positive," Lio said.

"Why am I not surprised?" Lincoln said to himself

"Just text us if you need anything," Lynn Sr said. "And if you leave the hotel room, just let us know and take the spare key card with you so you don't get locked out"

"I don't think we'll have to worry about Lio going anywhere," Lincoln remarked as he and the others left the room, leaving Lio all alone.

Most of the girls decided to take a dip in the pool as well, joining the boys in their fun. The only girls who stayed behind were Lisa, Luna, Leni and Kat.

"Cannon ball!" Lana yelled as she dove into the pool, creating a huge splash and soaking Lola, who was lying out under the warm Florida sun.

"Hey, watch it!" Lola said. "Some of us are trying to soak up some sun!"

"Sorry sis," Lana apologized. "Maybe you should try joining us instead of working on your tan."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Lola declined, sitting back in her chair. "I'd rather not ruin my hair after all the time I spent fixing it this morning."

"Suit yourself," Lana said with a shrug, swimming away.

"Marco!" Lincoln cried out as he covered his eyes.

"Polo!" Sid, Adelaide, Ronnie Anne, Chris, and Lynn all called out in response before briefly hiding under the water.

Following the sound of their voices, Lincoln decided to first go after Lynn, only for the latter to evade him. He called out "Marco" again and upon hearing "Polo" in response went after the voice closest to him. That voice happened to belong to Sid, who in a moment of quick thinking, grabbed Ronnie Anne to use as a shield and pushed into Lincoln's path.

"Ha, gotcha!" Lincoln said as he tagged Ronnie Anne.

"Seriously, Sid?" Ronnie Anne said, rolling her eyes.

"Sorry, but it's every man for themselves," Sid said, swimming away as Ronnie Anne tried to splash her.

"Get back here!" Ronnie Anne said, chasing after her, only to run into a trap laid by Sid and Adelaide, resulting in her getting drenched. Fortunately for her, Lincoln had her back.

"Need some help?" He asked as he assisted Ronnie in soaking Sid and her sister.

"No fair, I don't have a boyfriend to help me out," Sid playfully whined.

"He's not my boyfriend/She's not my girlfriend!" Ronnie Anne and Lincoln both insisted, each of them grabbing and throwing Sid into the air in response, allowing her to softly land in the water.

"Could've fooled me," Lynn quipped as she splashed Lincoln.

"To be fair, you and my cousin aren't fooling anyone either," Sid said with a coy grin, earning her a splash from Chris. "Alright, alright, I'm going. I'll leave you two lovely couples alone to your own devices, just don't get in too much trouble."

"We're not a couple!" Ronnie Anne yelled after her.

"Yet." Both Lynn and Chris quipped, earning them a splash from Lincoln and Ronnie Anne, resulting in a splash fight between the four of them.

"Awww, you guys seem to be getting along _swimmingly_!" Luan said with a cheerful cackle, ducking underwater to avoid getting drenched by the four of them. "_Water_ you getting mad at me for? My joke wasn't that _shallow_. HAHAHAHA! Get it?"

"Get over here!" Lynn yelled, chasing after her.

"I know you're getting _tide_ of her puns, but try not to hurt her," Chris said with a laugh.

"You're next," Lynn said, chasing after Chris.

"Uh oh," Chris giggled, diving underwater to avoid her.

"It seems like you really dove off the deep end if you're going after your _buoy_friend like that, Lynn!" Luan cracked another joke, earning groans from Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, and Lynn.

"You get your boyfriend, we'll get Luan," Ronnie Anne said to Lynn, calling a truce to deal with the two pun makers.

"Thanks," Lynn said, going down under after Chris.

"Two on one, that hardly seems fair," Luan said, looking at Ronnie Anne and joking "Although this does give us a chance to get better _aqua_inted!"

"How do you live with her?" Ronnie Anne asked Lincoln.

"You learn to get used to it," Lincoln replied.

"At least you guys don't _drown_ me out," Luan said with a laugh, followed up by a cheerful cackle and an obligatory "Get it?"

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne shared a glance before chasing after Luan, who followed Chris' lead and dove underwater to evade them. The two friends quickly followed after her, making a beeline for the young comedienne.

"Oh come on, it was just a joke," Chris said to Lynn. "I can't fathom why you're getting so mad."

"I'm not mad, what made you think I was mad?" Lynn asked, pouncing at Chris.

"I don't know, the fact that you're trying to get me," Chris said, sidestepping out of the way.

"Maybe I wouldn't be trying to get you if you weren't making such cringy jokes," Lynn laughed.

"This isn't even that deep of an issue so why are you getting steamed?" Chris continued joking.

Lynn then disappeared under the water and a split second later, pulled Chris down under with her by his leg. The two laughed as they came up for air before Lynn began swimming laps around the pool.

"Hey, try to see if you can keep up," Lynn said.

"If you insist," Chris said, swimming behind her. "Just for you though, I'll go easy on you."

Meanwhile, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne had caught up with Luan and had her cornered.

"Oh no, looks like I've got nowhere to go," Luan feigned fear. "Whatever shall I do?"

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were suddenly yanked underwater by two sets of hands.

"What the?" Lincoln and Ronnie Anne exclaimed upon surfacing.

"Gotcha!" Sid and Adelaide said, sticking their tongues out at Lincoln and Ronnie Anne. Sid then picked Adelaide up on her shoulders and advanced towards the two of them.

"Sorry, but we couldn't let you two sweethearts gang up on an innocent maiden," Adelaide said as Luan pretended to be a damsel in distress in the background before giggling and swimming away.

"Hey Lincoln?" Ronnie Anne said.

"Yeah?" Lincoln asked.

"So remember yesterday at Chris' party how Clyde said Sid was our daughter?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Yeah," Lincoln replied.

"What do you say we discipline our naughty child?" Ronnie Anne suggested and winking at Lincoln.

"I think that would be a superb idea," Lincoln said, catching on and lifting Ronnie Anne onto his shoulders.

"Uh oh," Sid and Adelaide said before running away, Adelaide still sitting atop Sid's shoulders.

"This hurts us more than it hurts you," Ronnie Anne yelled, chasing after her before something else caught her attention. "Lincoln, wait!"

"What?" Lincoln asked.

"I think this would be the perfect chance to mess with our big siblings, if you catch my drift," Ronnie Anne said, looking towards Lori and Bobby.

"Oh, I think I catch your drift and then some," Lincoln said, he and Ronnie Anne sharing a devious grin.

Lori and Bobby were sitting off to the side of the pool and were so busy trying to take the perfect selfie that they didn't even notice their younger siblings advancing towards them. That is, not until they were drenched with water just as they snapped the picture.

"Hey/Seriously!" Bobby and Lori complained as they shook themselves dry.

"That wasn't funny!" Lori said. "Our phones literally could've been ruined!"

"Oh yeah, what're you going to do about it?" Lincoln taunted.

"Especially when you're the little ones now!" Ronnie Anne added, taking joy in the fact that for once she was the one looking down on her brother.

"Oh, is that so?" Bobby replied, shooting a smile at Lori. "Babe, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think I am," Lori said, returning Bobby's smirk.

"Run away!" Lincoln and Ronnie Anne yelled before attempting to flee as Bobby lifted Lori into his shoulders.

As they ran, Lincoln almost ended up crashing into Lynn and Chris, who were still swimming laps around the pool.

"Hey, watch where you're going, dweebs!" Lynn said.

"Sorry!" The two apologized with Lori and Bobby close behind them.

"Hey, watch out!" Lynn shouted to the latter as they almost bumped into them.

"Wanna get some payback?" Chris asked with a mischievous smile as he offered Lynn his hand.

"Oh, you know me so well," Lynn said, taking his hand and climbing up on top of his shoulders. "Now After them!"

"I'm on it!" Chris said, chasing after Lori/Bobby and Lincoln/Ronnie Anne.

"Looks like you've got nowhere to run now," Lori said, having cornered Lincoln and Ronnie.

"Yeah, but now you've both got to deal with us!" Lynn declared.

"Oh no…" Lincoln and Lori said, knowing of Lynn's competitive nature.

"So I think it's time that Lynn Loud made a splash!" Lynn said before leaping off of Chris' shoulders and tackling both Lori and Ronnie Anne into the pool. Chris meanwhile, found himself getting drenched and soaked by his little sister, Scotia, who up to this point had been keeping out of sight.

"Oops, did we just start a war?" Scotia asked, fist bumping with Luan, Sid, and Adelaide.

"Don't think you're off the hook either," Lynn said to them, resulting in Sid and Luan letting out "Meep meep!" before diving underwater, leaving Adelaide and Scotia to their own devices.

The group had a wonderful time at the pool, playing water tag, Marco Polo, and occasionally wrestling with each other until the sun started to set. Once that was all said and done, everyone wrapped up in their towels and headed back to their hotel rooms in good spirits. If the rest of their vacation was going to be as fun as today had been, this Christmas was going to be the best one ever.

**Day 1**

Most kids would scoff at the thought of voluntarily getting up before sunrise, much rather preferring to sleep a few more hours. Lio was not a normal kid. The young otaku oftentimes woke up at 4 AM, even on weekends. So for him to be awake at such early hours of the morning was nothing unusual. What was unusual was the fact that Lio hadn't gotten much sleep during the night, having only gotten roughly 4 hours of slumber. Lio didn't know if it was simply excitement for what was in store tomorrow or if it was something else, but the boy found himself struggling to stay in dreamland. Sharing one of the two beds with Chris and Lincoln, Lio carefully climbed out of bed and walked over towards the balcony. He quietly opened the door and stepped out onto the balcony to look out into the starry night. Looking to his left, Lio saw someone unexpected on the adjacent balcony. The balcony belonging to the girls' room.

"Kat?" Lio whispered.

"Lio?" Kat whispered back.

"I guess neither of us could sleep huh?" Lio asked.

"Yeah, I guess not," Kat whispered. "Why are you out here this late at night?"

"Why are you?" Lio asked.

"Hey, I asked you first," Kat replied.

"Eh, guess I just wanted to look out at the stars," Lio shrugged.

"Fair enough," Kat said. "Excited about tomorrow?"

"You bet," Lio said. "Normally on these trips I hate going anywhere, but this is strangely different."

Kat smiled at him and asked "What do you think makes this time different?"

"I don't know," Lio said, even though he knew the exact answer to her question as he smiled back at her before he heard someone shuffling around behind him. "I've gotta go before I accidentally wake someone up."

"Yeah, same," Kat said before the two of them head back inside their respective suites.

A few hours later, the time came for everyone to get up and get ready for the first day of their Disney experience. As to be expected, the guys had a much easier time getting prepared due to having fewer members to work with. As they waited for the girls to finish up, Lincoln had a question for his brother.

"So what did you do while we were at the pool yesterday?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing," Lio said. "Mostly just watched TV and scribbled in my notebook."

"That's seriously all you did?" Lincoln asked.

"Well what did you expect me to do?" Lio asked back.

"I don't know, jump on the bed, order ice cream from room service, do the Chika dance" Lincoln suggested teasingly.

"I'm saving that for when your let's play channel gets 1000 subscribers," Lio retorted.

"Wait, really?" Lincoln asked.

"Yeah," Lio said, nodding his head. "Figure that it might bring more eyes to the channel and help you gain more subscribers." Lio then asked Lincoln "What did you guys do at the pool yesterday?"

"He and my sister tried soaking your sister and I," Bobby answered for him. "But we ended up getting back at them."

"Technically, it was more like all four of you got drenched by Lynn and I," Chris chimed in.

"You got drenched too!" Lincoln pointed out.

"Hmm, sounds chaotic," Lio said.

"I think you would've had fun," Chris told him. "Luan and I were making a boatload of water puns."

"Ugh, not again," Lincoln moaned. "Although I bet Lio would've tagged along if Kat came to the pool too."

"Then it would've been a four way battle between couples," Bobby pointed out.

"We're not a couple!" Lio protested.

"Right, right, sorry," Bobby apologized.

"Alright boys, my wife just texted me," Crash said. "The girls say they're ready. You all head down to the lobby while Lynn and I get the vans."

The boys nodded their heads and head to the lobby. When the girls arrived, Lio noticed something different about Kat that he hadn't noticed when they spoke from the balconies in that the girl had her long black hair tied in a braid. The change in hairstyle made her resemble a raven haired Cammy and caused Lio to blush.

"You alright?" Kat asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lio said. "Your hair…"

"Do you like it?" Kat asked, showing off a little. "Your sister Leni braided it for me. She said you might like it."

"She was right, I like," Lio said.

Meanwhile, Lynn and Chris were having a talk of their own.

"We're headed to Universal Studios today, right?" Lynn asked.

"Yeah, that's right," Chris nodded his head. "Any rides you're looking forward to getting on."

"There are a few," Lynn said before scowling. "One ride I know I'm not getting on is the Minions ride. You couldn't pay me enough to get on that abomination."

"Ronnie and I are getting on the Rip Ride Rockit," Lincoln said.

"It's on our list we made of rides to get on," Ronnie Anne said. "It's actually at the top of our list, coming in at number 4 under Splash Mountain."

"That sounds like fun, maybe we should try something like that," Chris suggested.

"Really?" Lynn asked. "I'm surprised that you want to get on a roller coaster. I thought high speed rides weren't your thing."

"Hey, I'm 13 now and I'm feeling adventurous!" Chris declared. "Why not take a few risks? Live on the wild side!"

"Alright, calm down tiger," Lynn laughed. "Don't get ahead of yourself and get into something you can't handle."

"There's nothing that I can't handle when I'm with you," Chris said, unable to catch himself before the words escaped his mouth. "Um, I mean…"

"Don't worry, I gotcha," Lynn said. "Newfound courage is a consequence of hanging out with Lynnsanity so often." Lynn playfully nudged Lincoln and teased "Now if only Stincoln could follow your lead."

"Hey, I'm plenty brave," Lincoln said.

"No offense Linc, but you are kinda easy to scare," Ronnie Anne said.

"I am not!" Lincoln said before almost jumping out of his skin when Ronnie Anne pretended to pounce at him. "Not funny"

"Sorry, but I couldn't resist," Ronnie Anne laughed, gently punching Lincoln in his arm and telling him "Don't be so mad, I like you just the way you are."

"In more ways than one," Sid teased, giggling.

"Do you want me to tell the story of how you passed out last time we got on a roller coaster?" Ronnie Anne threatened.

"You promised that would be our little secret!" Sid shouted.

The men arrived with the vans shortly thereafter and carted everyone off to Universal Studios. While everyone was looking forward to today, Lucy, Lana, Lola, Lisa, Scotia, and Adelaide weren't as excited as the others were due to the fact that they were too short to get on many of the more fun rides, including the coasters Lincoln and Lynn were talking about. Not that any of them were going to let that stop them from having a good time. When they arrived at the park, everyone split up into groups and went their separate ways, agreeing to meet back up at the entrance at the end of the day. Chris and Lynn wasted no time heading towards the San Francisco Zone Part of the park.

"So where are we headed to first?" Chris asked.

"Dude, this is basically your extended birthday party, it's up to you," Lynn said.

"So you're giving me free reign?" Chris asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Wherever you wanna go, I'll follow you," Lynn promised.

"Even if I chose to go on the Minions Ride?" Chris asked with a coy sly grin.

"Don't even joke like that," Lynn said, causing Chris to laugh.

"But in all seriousness, wanna check out the Fast Furious Attraction first?" Chris asked, remembering Lynn's own fascination with the franchise.

"Sounds like fun to me, yes," Lynn answered, leading the way.

"Kinda helps that that's the only real attraction in San Francisco Zone," Chris said. "I just hope I'm not taking things too slow for you.

"Not in the slightest," Lynn assured him as they waited in line. "The only thing that's slow is this line."

"And I now regret not asking my parents to buy fast passes for all of us," Chris said.

"How could you let us down like that, dorkface?" Lynn teased, punching Chris in his arm. "Now we have to waste a whole 15 minutes waiting in line!"

"I know Lynn, I really let you down, please find it in your heart to forgive me, my fair maiden," Chris played along.

"Who are you calling a maiden!?" Lynn yelled.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, please forgive my slip of tongue," Chris apologized. "Although then again, you did call me a dorkface…"

"Because you are a dorkface, you big nerd!" Lynn retorted.

"Yeah, but I'm your big nerd," Chris said with a smile, shimmying his shoulders and adding "and you're stuck with me."

Thanks to their friendly bantering back and forth, time seemed to fly by for the pair and before they knew it, Chris and Lynn were at the front of the line. Neither of them knew what to expect as they boarded the ride but were looking forward to it all the same. Ultimately, the Fast and Furious themed attraction proved to be fun, but left a lot to be desired in terms of thrills, especially to Lynn.

"I was expecting a little bit more if I'm being honest," Lynn said.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Chris apologized. "I honestly thought there'd be more too the ride than that."

"Eh, don't worry about it," Lynn told him. "I'll just think of it as a warmup, the appetizer, you know?"

"That's one way to think about it," Lynn said. "Where to next?"

"Since I chose last time, it's only fair that you pick this time around," Chris said.

"Are you sure?" Lynn asked.

"Positive," Chris said.

"In that case, let's get on Doctor Doom's Fearfall," Lynn suggested, taking Chris' love of comic books into account similar to how Chris had taken her love of the Fast Furious franchise into account.

"The drop tower ride?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, it'll be a blast, I promise!" Lynn said, dragging Chris along. "Unless you're feeling scared?"

"It's going to take more than some ride to scare me" Chris replied, trying to mask his nervousness.

"Don't worry, I'll be right beside you," Lynn assured him, wrapping an arm around him. The fact that they could perfectly read each other's emotions just further highlighted how close they were.

The line for Doctor Doom's Fearfall was vastly longer than the one for Fast and Furious, but didn't seem to bother either Lynn or Chris too much. The two were vastly different in terms of their reactions with Lynn seeming excited and giddy like a little kid and Chris coming off as a combination of anticipated excitement and anxious fear. Lynn picked up on this and decided to try easing Chris' fears by telling him a story.

"I know you're nervous, but try not to think about it too much," Lynn advised him. "If Stincoln can handle this kind of ride, so can you?"

"Lincoln's been on this ride before?" Chris asked.

"Not this exact ride, but a couple of years ago, the carnival came to town and I took Lincoln and Lio to it," Lynn explained. "They had this tower of doom set up and I dared the two of them to get on it."

"So what happened?" Chris asked.

"Lincoln didn't wanna look weak so he was all like "bring it on!"," Lynn continued. "And Lio was always one to follow Lincoln's lead so he chose to go along too despite being scared witless."

"Then what happened?" Chris asked.

"Lincoln took it like a champ," Lynn said. "He said he had the time of his life on the ride and wanted to go on it again."

"What about Lio?" Chris asked.

"Lio didn't take it so well," Lynn told him. "He passed out mid drop and let's just say had an accident in his pants…"

"Oh, poor kid," Chris said, feeling a little sorry for the otaku after hearing what happened to him.

"Yeah, it took awhile for him to come to, but despite all that he still said he had fun," Lynn said. "So do you get what I'm trying to say?"

"That I have every right to have reservations about getting on this death trap?" Chris asked in response.

"No, the point is that you can't let this thing intimidate you," Lynn said. "You're going to let some ride scare you out of having a good time? That's not the Chris I know!"

"But-," Chris tried to object.

"No buts!" Lynn said. "If my little brothers can conquer this cheap little drop, so can you!"

"What if I end up coming out like Lio rather than Lincoln?" Chris asked.

"Oh come on, I have more faith in you than that," Lynn said. "And besides, even if you do pass out and wet your pants, at least you didn't cower before some silly amusement park ride! So what are you going to do? Are you going to give up!?"

"No way!" Chris said with confidence. "I'm going to show Doctor Doom who his master is!"

"That's the spirit!" Lynn encouraged him.

"You sure do have a knack for motivational speeches," Chris lampshaded Lynn's talent for uplifting others.

"When you're the captain of four different sports teams, you kinda have to know how to get your teammates' head in the game," Lynn said. "Some of that carries over to everyday life. It's proven rather useful. Especially when it comes to getting your siblings to do certain activities."

"Well you've certainly got me feeling spirited!" Chris said, joking "Even if something goes horribly wrong and I die, I'll come out of it feeling invincible."

"Don't talk like that," Lynn said harshly.

"Why not?" Chris asked.

"It's just that…" Lynn said, struggling to come out and say it. "The thought of losing you in a freak accident or something isn't very funny is all. That's not something to joke about!"

"Oh… right, I understand," Chris said in a somewhat smug and smarmy tone.

"Don't get the wrong idea," Lynn tried to play it off, crossing her arms. "It's not like I like you or anything… baka!"

Chris couldn't help but giggle at Lynn's tsundere impression. It was also comforting to know that she cherished his presence so much that even joking about his death made her uncomfortable. If he was being honest, he felt the exact same way. Even an offhand throwaway joke about Lynn dying made him feel uneasy. The line dwindled down until finally it was Chris and Lynn's turn to get onboard. Chris was still nervous as he and Lynn took their seat. As the restraining bar came down across his chest, Chris' heart was pounding out of his chest, a sensation that only heightened as the ride began its descent. Once again, Lynn perfectly read his emotions and grabbed a hold of his hand to comfort him.

"Don't worry, I'm right here beside you," Lynn told him, holding his hand tight as the ride reached its climax.

Lynn's assurance as well as her soft but firm and comforting grasp on his hand caused Chris to blush and made his worries melt away. The momentary pause before the ride went into its high speed drop didn't even register to Chris until they were halfway down. Keeping her hold on Chris' hand, Lynn let out an excited scream as the ride descended. Chris himself couldn't keep himself from joining in with her, screaming at the top of his lungs as they sped towards the ground. The ride itself only lasted a total of maybe 12 seconds, but to Chris it felt even longer than that, not that he was complaining. He quite enjoyed holding hands with his best friend throughout the whole thing. As they got off the ride, Lynn was full of adrenaline.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" She said excitedly. "Nothing like a 30 ft drop to get your blood rushing! Makes you feel alive!"

"That was actually rather fun," Chris admitted, fixing his hair after the wind rendered it a bit messy.

"And you didn't wet your pants either so what were you so afraid of?" Lynn asked.

"Cut me some slack, it was my first time on that kind of ride," Chris said.

"Well you survived it," Lynn said. "Now what do you want to do?"

"Hmm…" Chris said, taking a moment to ponder where to go next.

Meanwhile, Lincoln, Ronnie Anne and Sid were walking through the Harry Potter part of the park, waiting in line for _Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts_ ride. Sid in particular seemed rather excited to get on this attraction, practically jumping for joy as they waited; something that didn't go unnoticed by either Ronnie or Lincoln.

"Are you alright, Sid?" Lincoln asked. "You seem a bit… hyper."

"She's fine," Ronnie Anne said, explaining "She's just a really big Harry Potter fan."

"Fan doesn't even begin to describe it!" Sid said excitedly. "I have all the books and have seen all the movies! I even have a few plushies and shirts and when I was 7, I dressed up as Hermoine for Halloween! I've been wanting to get on this ride ever since I heard we were coming here!" She grabbed Ronnie Anne by her shoulders and shook her excitedly, saying "I need to get on this ride!"

"Alright, I get it, calm down," Ronnie Anne laughed, pushing Sid away. "You're acting like me when I had that telenovela obsession."

"What do you mean had?" Lincoln said. "You still have an obsession with that show! You bring it up every time we video call."

"Hey, you don't see me pointing out your obsession with Ace Savvy!" Ronnie Anne retorted. "Seriously, your obsession is worse than mine and Sid's combined!"

"I'm not the one who styled my hair after my favorite character on a whim," Lincoln shot back.

"No, that would be your brother," Ronnie Anne replied. "You're the one who wore the same Ace Savvy costume for a week straight everywhere he went!"

"Mom, Dad, please stop fighting," Sid said meekly. "Can't we just focus on this ride and how much fun it's going to be?"

"You're right," Ronnie Anne said, asking Lincoln "I've never really read the Harry Potter books and I've only seen one movie, what do you think of them?"

"Eh, personally I thought they were overrated," Lincoln answered. "I mean, they were good, don't get me wrong, but I still thought they were overhyped."

"Tell me you didn't just say that," Sid said, shooting Lincoln a glare. "Do you know what happens when people say that Harry Potter is overrated? Do you wanna know what happens?"

Lincoln gulped as Sid seemingly stared holes through his very soul before her intense gaze melted away into her friendly smile as she gave Lincoln a compassionate hug and said "We say 'that's okay' and respect their opinion because not everyone has to like the same thing".

"Huh, right," Lincoln said, nodding his head. "That's exactly what we do."

The trio reached the front of the line and were quickly queued up, being given special goggles that would help enhance the experience before being loaded into their carts. Sid still had the excitement of a kid who received a new video game console for their birthday.

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe we're actually going to do this," Sid squealed with glee, bouncing up and down. "This is going to be awesome!"

"I might need your help," Ronnie Anne whispered to Lincoln. "Seeing as I don't know who any of these characters are and I don't want to disappoint Sid."

"Don't worry, I'll help you out," Lincoln promised.

"Thanks lame-o," Ronnie Anne said before the ride got started.

The experience was certainly enjoyable for the trio, even Ronnie Anne who regularly tugged on Lincoln's sleeve to ask him who this character was, whether they were a good guy or a villain, if she was supposed to be scared or excited during certain sequences and the like. Eventually Ronnie Anne got to the point where she stopped caring and simply went with the flow. She found herself having a much better time when taking that approach, getting just as much enjoyment out of the ride as Lincoln and Sid. Okay, maybe not just as much as Sid, but she still had fun all the same. When the ride came to an end, the trio exited with huge smiles on their faces. Ronnie and Lincoln's excitement still paled in comparison to Sid's however.

"That was so fun!" Sid exclaimed. "That was so worth the wait! It was everything I thought it would be and more!"

"I don't know about you, but I think Sid's trying time tell us that she had a blast," Ronnie Anne said to Lincoln.

"What? That's crazy talk!" Lincoln said.

"I don't know which part I liked more!" Sid said. "It was all so wonderful! I almost wanna go on it again!"

"I'd rather not wait in that long line a second time," Lincoln said.

"Same to be honest," Ronnie Anne agreed.

"Fair enough," Sid shrugged. "So what do you guys want to get on now?"

"We can always get the transformers ride," Lincoln suggested.

"I didn't think you were into Transformers," Ronnie Anne commented.

"I wasn't originally," Lincoln admitted. "In fact, I actually don't care much for the movies, but Lynn kinda got me into them. I just wanna see if the ride lives up to the hype"

"Then it's decided!" Sid declared. "Next stop, Transformers 4-D!" With that, Sid grabbed Lincoln and Ronnie Anne by their hands and pulled them along.

"I can't believe Clyde was right," Ronnie Anne whispered.

"About what?" Asked Lincoln.

"About Sid being our adopted kid," Ronnie Anne said. "She's even dragging us like a kid dragging their parents to see Santa Claus."

"Hey, she gets her energy from you," Lincoln said.

"No way, she totally gets your rambunctious spirit," Ronnie Anne argued.

"You two know I can hear you, right?" Sid pointed out. "And I still don't know why I'm the adopted kid!"

"Sid, what have your father and I told you about talking back?" Ronnie Anne joked.

"Hey, what do you say after this we get on the Rip Ride Rockit like we planned?" Lincoln suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Ronnie Anne said, nodding her head.

"Awww, do we have to?" Sid asked. "What's the big deal about some silly roller coaster?"

"Scared you're going to pass out again?" Lincoln teased her.

"No!" Sid said with a pout. "Shut up!"

"Hey, it's nothing to be embarrassed about," Lincoln said. "Did I ever tell the story about how my brother passed out and peed his pants when we got on this one ride?"

"I don't think you have," Ronnie Anne said.

"Please do tell," Sid said.

Lincoln smirked and began telling the story as he, Ronnie Anne and Sid stood in line for Transformers 4-D.

In another part of the park, Lio and Kat were patiently waiting in line for Kang Kodos' Twirl n Hurl. Neither of the two were exactly excited about the rides offered at Universal Studios, being more excited for the thrills that Disney had in store (partially so they could make Stone Ocean references), but the two were determined to have a good time.

"Not going to lie, Colonel, most of the rides here don't catch my eye," Kat said to Lio.

"I know what you mean," Lio said. "Honestly, I feel like we could've stayed behind at the hotel for this occasion."

"Yeah, but I doubt the adults would've let us," Kat said. "Not unless one of your older sisters agreed to stay behind."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Lio admitted. "Although I must say that there is one ride I wanna go on…"

"Minion Mayhem?" Kat teased, flashing him a coy smile.

"And I suppose you wanna go to the Barney show, eh?" Lio answered back.

"Okay, you did not have to go that far," Kat said, sounding disgusted.

"Hey, you started it," Lio retorted, laughing and saying "Besides, suggesting the Minions ride is way worse than what I suggested."

"Alright, that… actually is right," Kat said, rubbing the back of her neck. "But seriously, what ride do you want to get on?"

"The Rip Ride Rockit," Lio answered.

"Really?" Kat asked. "I didn't think you were the type to ride roller coasters."

"What gave you that idea?" Lio asked.

"Your sister told me the story about how…" Kat started before Lio cut her off.

"Say no more," Lio said. "But that's the reason I wanna get on this ride, so that I can defeat my weaker past self and become stronger!"

"So you're saying that this is basically a test?" Kat asked. "A trial to see if you can overcome your former weaknesses?"

"Precisely," Lio said, nodding his head as the line they were standing in dwindled down.

"In that case, I guess getting on the Rockit ride will be a test for me too," Kat said.

"What do you mean?" Lio asked.

"I've never been on a roller coaster before," Kat told him. "Every time I tried, I got too scared and chickened out"

"Well this time around you'll have me around to back you up," Lio assured her.

"Thanks," Kat said as she and Lio got on the ride they'd been waiting for. "But first, we've gotta get on this ride. I just hope it isn't a snooze fest."

"I'm going to be optimistic and hold out hope that this ride doesn't blow," Lio said as they were strapped into their cart.

"And… here we go!" The friends said in unison as their UFO themed cart lifted into the air and the carousel began.

"So are you having any fun?" Kat asked Lio.

"No," Lio said bluntly.

"Me neither," Kat said. "In fact, I'm kinda bored on here."

"Same," Lio said. "I'm just counting down how much time we have left on this thing before it's over."

"Wishing that we could just King Crimson this?" Kat asked.

"Yep!" Lio answered before throwing his arms up and screaming "King Crimson no noryoku!". As to be expected, nothing happened causing Lio to remark "Well, I tried."

Kat laughed and said "One day we will find that Stand Arrow."

"And once we do, we shall obtain the ultimate STANDO POWA!" Lio declared.

"Our stands will have no weaknesses like Sheer Heart Attack," Kat added.

When the ride finally came to a halt, Lio and Kat were eager to get off. They hadn't been expecting much from the ride and they were still somehow disappointed. Lio hated to be overly negative, but the ride hadn't exactly been amusing. Kat evidently felt the same way given the downer expression she wore.

"Well there's two minutes of our life we're never getting back," She muttered.

"Yeah, that wasn't exactly the best experience," Lio admitted. "Everyone else seemed to be having a good time though."

"And I envy them," Kat said. "Wish that we could say the same."

"So is there anything that you wanna get on before we get on the Rip Ride Rockit?" Lio asked.

"Not really, no," Kat said. "By the way, whose idea was it for us to get on that Simpson's ride in the first place?"

"I don't know, but I think it was yours" Lio shrugged. "I just remember you seeing the long line and saying we should try it out to see what the hype was about."

"Next time, please talk me out of it," Kat told him.

"Will do," Lio chuckled as the two walked through the park. "How about I make up for that bore of a ride?"

"How are you going to do that?" Kat asked. Lio simply smiled and pointed to the Ben and Jerry's ice cream parlor they were walking past. "Oh." Kat smiled back and said "That'll make up for anything."

"I mean, to be fair, have you ever seen anyone sad while eating ice cream?" Lio asked.

"Yes," Kat answered.

"Really?" Lio asked. "When?"

"When my mom was watching some romance series," Kat answered. "She was crying her eyes out."

"Yeah, but that's not what I meant," Lio said as they approached the parlor. "I mean, when have you ever seen someone crying of their own free will when eating ice cream."

"No, I don't think I have," Kat answered as Lio opened the door for her. "Oh, such a gentleman!"

"Don't wanna disappoint Jonathan, you know?" Lio replied.

"Just make sure you don't get a chocolate ice cream otherwise you'll really disappoint Jonathan," Kat said.

"Heck, I'd probably destroy the whole park if I ate chocolate ice cream," Lio laughed.

"Wanna maybe put that theory to the test?" Kat asked with a mischievous grin.

"It still amazes me how evil you can be sometimes," Lio said. "Like, that's serious villain thinking."

"Don't let looks deceive you, I can be an agent of chaos when I want to be," Kat said, flashing Lio a smile.

The kids walked up to the counter and ordered their ice cream. Lio ordered a simple vanilla while Kat got a mint chocolate chip ice cream. Lio paid for their frozen treats before the two of them left the shop and headed towards the Rip Ride Rockit, eating their ice cream on the way there.

"You know, maybe eating ice cream before getting on a high speed roller coaster isn't the best idea," Kat brought up.

"You're probably right," Lio admitted. "Still, at least we're hyped up for this, right?"

"Right…" Kat said.

"Still nervous about getting on a roller coaster for the first time?" Lio asked. Kat simply nodded and Lio said "Don't worry, everything will be okay. I promise."

"You promise nothing will go wrong?" Kat asked as she and Lio finished their ice cream and discarded their containers.

"No," Lio replied. "Rule number one of anything ever: never say that nothing can go wrong, let alone promise it!"

"Okay, fair point," Kat said as the two got in line. "But if anything goes wrong, I'm blaming you."

"Fair enough," Lio said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Lio? Kat?" Lynn asked as she and Chris turned around to face the two.

"What a coincidence running into you guys here," Kat said. "I thought you guys would've been on the ride already."

"Nah," Chris said. "We wanted to work ourselves up to the main attraction so we'd have more fun."

"Cool," Lio said. "Kat and I didn't exactly have fun on the other rides we got on so we figured that getting on this would make up for it."

"You picked the right ride to get on," Lynn told them. "This ride is sure to put hair on your chest…" She looked at Lio and added "If it doesn't put you to sleep that is."

"Tell the whole park, why don't you!?" Lio shouted.

"Hey look, it's your brother and his girlfriend!" Sid said, pointing at Lio and Kat as she, Ronnie Anne, and Sid got in line behind Lynn, Chris, Lio, and Kat. "And my cousin and his girlfriend are here too."

Lio and Lynn were too exasperated to even object, simply deciding to roll with it.

"Fancy meeting all of you here," Lincoln said. "Great minds think alike, am I right?"

"I guess so," Lio shrugged. "So what have you guys been up to?"

"Oh, we went on this amazing Harry Potter ride and it was so awesome!" Sid said, getting excited again. "Then I think we went on Transformers 4-D…"

"You think?" Lynn asked.

"I say I think because I was so hyped up after getting on the Harry Potter ride that I completely zoned out afterwards," Sid said. "For all I know, we could've went through the Maze of Dirty Socks."

"And I can guarantee that that still would've been more fun than the rides Lio and I went on," Kat mumbled.

"Really?" Ronnie Anne asked. "Were they really that boring?"

"Yes!" Kat said. "And all the other rides that looked more exciting we couldn't get on because we were too short! Stupid height requirements."

"Fortunately, all of us seem to be tall enough for this ride," Chris noted as the line moved forward.

"I still don't know how I let these two talk me into getting on this death trap," Sid commented, losing the bubbly spunk in her voice.

"Don't worry Sid, everything's going to be fine," Ronnie Anne said.

"You promise?" Sid asked.

"I wouldn't make any promises if I were you," Lincoln interjected. "Anytime you make a promise that nothing will go wrong, something inevitably goes wrong."

"Thanks, that's really reassuring," Sid said sarcastically.

"I'm just saying," Lincoln said.

"Don't worry," Ronnie Anne told Sid. "You can sit next to me and hold my hand if you get scared."

"Thanks mom, you're the best," Sid said, teasingly giving Ronnie Anne a peck on the cheek.

"If it's any consolation, this is my first time on a roller coaster," Kat said, "and to be honest, I'm scared out of my mind."

"I know right!" Sid agreed. "What if something goes wrong like that scene in Final Destination 3?"

"Yeah, or what if we get stuck upside down mid loop!?" Kat replied.

"To be fair, you're not helping yourselves if you're just going to think about nigh impossible scenarios," Lynn pointed out.

"I know it's a jinx, but I promise that we'll all be fine," Chris tried easing the girl's concerns.

"If either of us die, we're coming back as ghosts to haunt you guys," Kat threatened.

"I wouldn't mind being haunted by you," Lio said with a smile.

"Remember that movie Ghost starring Patrick Swayze?" Lincoln asked Lio with a smirk, prompting Lio to shoot him a venomous glare.

Eventually the time came for the seven of them to get on the ride. Chris and Lynn, Lio and Kat, and Ronnie Anne and Sid all ended up on the same train while Lincoln was seated behind them next to a bubblegum chewing teenager. Once seated, all of them selected their songs of choice. Both Sid and Kat were sweating buckets with the former shaking and trembling like a leaf.

"Don't worry," Ronnie Anne said. "Remember, if you get nervous, you can just grab my" she didn't get a chance to finish her sentence before Sid grabbed her hand in an iron grip, "hand," Ronnie Anne squeaked.

Kat was faring little better, her face paralyzed with fear. Lio didn't utter a word and instead gently grabbed Kat's hand, looking her in the eye and nodding his head, his way of silently assuring her that everything would be okay.

The train lurched forward, causing Sid to panic.

"What was that!?" She asked, frantically looking around.

"That's just the ride getting started," Ronnie Anne said, her hand starting to grow sore from how tight Sid was holding it.

"Oh yeah, right!" Sid said. "I'm cool, totally cool!"

The trains began their vertical climb as Sid's grasp grew tighter. When the ride reached its peak, Sid was holding Ronnie Anne hand's so tight that Ronnie Anne was sure she was going to break it. Kat's grip on Lio's hand had also tightened considerably, causing the otaku some discomfort. There was a momentary pause before the ride went into its high speed drop before going into its loops and corkscrews. The passengers all screamed throughout the whole thing as their songs of choice blasted through the speakers. The two girls who had been afraid found themselves having the time of their life as their screams turned from abject fear to those of amusement. Seeing their friends more relaxed and enjoying themselves made both Ronnie Anne and Lio smile and enjoy the ride even more. At least, Lio was enjoying the ride more until Kat's warning about their pre roller coaster ice cream treat came to fruition and she ended up puking on his shirt.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," Kat apologized.

"Don't worry about it, it's fine," Lio said, shuddering. He put his disgust aside as he watched his best friend have the time of her life and scream her head off. At the very least, he didn't pass out and piss his pants this time around.

"Eeeeeeee!" Sid squealed once they all got off the ride. "That was so much fun! Let's get on it again!"

"I'm all for it, but it looks like the line's gotten longer," Chris pointed out.

"I'm glad you had fun," Ronnie Anne winced, holding her sore and aching hand.

"Sorry about that," Sid said. "I didn't mean to hold your hand so tight."

"It's fine, don't worry about it," Ronnie Anne said.

It was then that everyone noticed Lio was shirtless after getting off the ride.

"Um, Lio… what happened to your shirt?" Lincoln asked.

"Let's just say that you should never eat ice cream before getting on the Rip Ride Rockit," Kat said. "Or any roller coaster for that matter. Sorry about that Lio."

"Eh, don't worry about it," Lio said, shivering from the breeze. "At least that more than made up for the snooze fest we went on."

"True," Kat said. "If it weren't for the line, I'd try riding it a second time."

"Same!" Sid said. "It was so much more fun than I expected!"

"Who would've thought the two people who were most afraid of getting on the ride would end up having the most fun?" Lynn laughed.

"Sorry we worried so much," Kat said. "Guess you guys were right about there being nothing to worry about." She turned to Lio and said "Thanks for literally holding my hand through the whole thing."

"I'm sure the pleasure was all his," Lynn teased, causing Lio to shoot her a glare that Lynn brushed off.

"Wouldn't be surprising," Ronnie Anne said. "I'm sure she has a much softer grip than Sid." She turned to Sid and said "Like, no offense, but I didn't think you were so strong."

"Only when I'm afraid," Sid replied.

"Lio, are you alright?" Lincoln asked Lio, who was shivering even more now.

"Y-y-y-yeah, I'm fine," Lio said, quivering uncontrollably.

"Here, take my jacket," Kat said, taking off her red jacket and handing it to Lio.

"No, no, I couldn't," Lio said.

"Take it," Kat insisted. "It's the least I could do after throwing up on your shirt."

"I'll be fine," Lio said.

"You're shaking more than squigglevision animation," Kat pointed out. "I don't want you to get hypothermia or something."

"Yeah, but-,"

"You are going to take this jacket or I will go back to that ice cream parlor, buy a pint of chocolate ice cream and force feed it to you," Kat threatened.

"I can't argue with that logic," Lio said, accepting Kat's jacket and putting it on. "Although again, sometimes you can be such an evil genius."

"Yeah, but I'm your evil genius," Kat smirked. "And you're stuck with me."

"Why does that sound familiar?" Lynn remarked, shooting Chris a playful look.

"I know the line is long, but I feel like there's nothing left for us to do," Sid said.

"Honestly, same," Lio agreed.

"Then what are we going to do?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Screw it, let's get on the ride again!" Lincoln said.

"The ride so nice we have to get on it twice," Lynn said.

"Sounds great, but do any of you mind switching seats with me?" Lio asked, telling Kat "No offense, but I don't wanna get thrown up on again."

"Lio, I'm hurt, crushed, devastated! How could you do this to me?" Kat feigned heartbreak complete with fake tears. "I thought what we had was special!"

"What we have is special," Lio said.

"Say that again so I can get that on record," Lincoln teased.

"Buzz off, Lincoln!" Lio yelled as Chris, Lynn and Lincoln snickered.

"I'll switch seats with you," Sid volunteered.

"And since that leaves Ronnie Anne without her partner and gives Lincoln a chance to sit next to his beloved," Lio teased, shooting Lincoln a smug smirk. "I'll give him that seat and sit by myself behind you guys."

"So seating arrangements have been sorted out?" Lynn asked. "Great! Let's get back in line before the wait time extends to an hour."

"Yay!" Everyone cheered as they got back in line.

The wait for the ride ended up being longer than it was the first time around, but the ride itself was just as fun as it had been the first time. In fact, for Sid and Kat, it was even more fun since their fear from the first ride was replaced with excitement and anticipation. Fortunately for Sid, this time no one ended up getting puked on. Unfortunately, by the time the friends got off, their time at Universal had drawn to a close and it was time to meet back up with the others.

"Come on," Lincoln said.

"Do we really have to leave?" Sid whined.

"I know right, I was just starting to have fun!" Lio said.

"You had fun?" Lincoln and Lynn asked.

"Yeah," Lio replied. "Why is that so surprising?"

"Normally you hate going to crowded places and spend the entire time freaking out," Lynn pointed out. "I'm surprised that you could put that aside long enough to enjoy yourself."

"To be fair, I had my lieutenant at my side to distract me from my fears," Lio said, wrapping his arm around Kat.

"Awww, thanks Lio," Kat said, giving him a hug. "To be honest, talking with you was way more fun than any of the rides we went on… aside from that last one of course."

"True," Lio said. "Of course, that's not to say I'm not eager to get out of this place!"

"Same!" Kat said.

"Then come on, let's not keep the others waiting," Chris said, leading the way.

"I'm right behind you," Lynn said.

"So, did you kids have fun?" Crash asked everyone as the group came back together.

There were a mixed response of "Yes" and "No". Most of the "no"s came from the younger kids on account of them being too short to get on a majority of the rides.

"Um… what happened to you?" Luna asked Lio.

"Yeah, where's your shirt?" Leni asked.

"It's a long story," Lio explained before posing with Kat's jacket. "Personally, I think I look pretty good wearing this, don't you?"

"Yes, you look so much better in my jacket than I ever did," Kat laughed.

"She's not wrong," Lana said. "That jacket suits you way better than your usual outfit."

"Maybe Lincoln would look better if he wore his girlfriend's jacket," Lola joked.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Lincoln said.

"There's no point in denying it Linc," Luna said. "We all know that's not true."

"I wonder how Lynn would look if she switched clothes with her boyfriend," Lucy mused.

"Please, I'd look good in anything," Lynn said confidently.

"What about a frilly pink princess dress?" Chris asked, wriggling his eyebrow at Lynn.

"If anyone else suggested that, I would've slapped them," Lynn told him.

"Are you saying that I'm special?" Chris smirked.

"Oh, you're special alright," Lynn replied, playfully rolling her eyes.

"Hey!" Chris said.

"Alright, let's do a quick headcount and we'll be all ready to head back to the resort," Lynn Sr. said, taking a moment to count everyone. Once he confirmed that everyone was present, the group said goodbye to Universal Studios.

When they got back to the hotel, the girls went to their respective suite, while the boys went back to theirs. Before they did though, Lio and Kat had an exchange.

"Here's your jacket back," Lio said, offering Kat her jacket.

"Nah, keep it," Kat said. "In fact, wait right here."

Kat went into the girls' suite and came back holding one of her polka dot skirts, reddish orange blouses and pair of white knee socks.

"What are you doing?" Lio asked.

"Your sisters' comments about swapping clothes gave me an idea," Kat explained before asking Lio "Do you have a spare set of your usual outfit I can wear?"

"Plenty of them," Lio said before heading into the guys' suite and retrieving one of his pink polo shirts and pair of blue jeans. "Here you go."

"Thanks," Kat said. "I wonder how the others are going to react when they see us dressed in each other's clothing."

"I'm sure it'll take them by surprise," Lio said.

"Thanks for going along with this by the way," Kat thanked him.

"Don't mention it," Lio said. "This is too much fun for me not to go along with."

"Guess being friends with an evil genius has its advantages, huh?" Kat asked.

"It sure does," Lio said.

"Alright, I don't want the others to get suspicious so I guess this is goodnight," Kat said. "Goodnight Lio."

"Goodnight Kat," Lio said, smiling at her.

With that, the friends head back into their respective suites, smiling ear to ear grins at their plans for tomorrow.

**Day 2**

To keep from burning out early on, it was decided that the group would visit the parks they planned on attending every other day rather than every day in a row. They had two weeks so why tire themselves out? Since they had nowhere to go today, the kids were allowed to sleep in and get as much rest as they needed. When they awoke, however, all of them were rather hungry, a feeling that wasn't exclusive to just them. The adults found themselves craving food as well with their tummies making the rumblies. Rita and Jubilee had the idea to go out to eat for breakfast at ihop, an idea that got the support of the kids. Thus, everyone immediately started heading into the showers and getting dressed. Much to the boys' surprise, Lio elected to shower and get dressed last, a major departure from his usual routine.

"Lio, are you feeling okay?" Lincoln asked. "Did that roller coaster scramble your brain yesterday?"

"I'm fine, brother," Lio said. "Geez, what's wrong with shaking it up a little bit sometimes?"

"Nothing," Chris said. "It's just that none of us were expecting that."

"What can I say, I'm full of surprises," Lio said with a smirk.

"Alright, if you insist," Bobby said, taking the bathroom for himself.

The guys had no idea of what Lio had in store for them. Meanwhile in the girls' suite, Kat had also volunteered to go last.

"Are you sure you want to go through with that decision?" Lisa asked. "Need I remind you that there are 17 of us? Plus, with Lola, your wait grows even longer."

"I'm sure," Kat said with a smile. "Time is on my side!"

"If you insist," Lisa shrugged. "Just don't say I didn't warn you."

Slowly, but surely the line dwindles down until Kat was the last one left. Over the guys' room, it was more or less the same with Lio waiting for his twin to come out of the bathroom before he got dressed. When it finally came down for Lio and Kat, they told their roommates the same thing.

"Go ahead and leave without me," They said. "I'll be there in a few minutes!"

It was then that they put their plan into motion, changing into each other's clothes. Once they were dressed, the two met each other in the hallway and took a moment to compliment each other.

"My oh my, you look so pretty," Kat complimented Lio.

"Thanks, you look rather handsome yourself," Lio complimented her back. "That pink really brings out the sparkle in your eyes."

"Oh, you're just saying that!" Kat said.

"I'm being serious," Lio said, "and if you don't believe me, why don't we get everyone else's opinion on the matter."

"That sounds like a brilliant idea," Kat said, walking towards the elevator.

"What is taking them so long?" Lori asked in the lobby, tapping her foot impatiently as the group waited for Lio and Kat to arrive.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Lio said as he and Kat approached the group.

"Oh my god," was the simultaneous response from everyone.

"I didn't think you'd take me seriously when I said you should switch outfits," Lana said.

"So what do you all think?" Kat asked.

"Oh, I have got to get a pic of this," Lincoln said, pulling out his phone to snap a photo.

"Same," Ronnie Anne said, pulling out her phone to do the same.

"Same," Both Chris and Lynn said.

"Are you actually going to go out dressed like that?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Lio and Kat replied with Lio adding "I feel absolutely fabulous in these new threads."

"I guess we really did learn who _wears the pants_ in this relationship," Luan joked, followed by a cheerful cackle and an obligatory "Get it?"

Her joke was met with the usual response of groans from everyone aside from Chris and Lio, who chuckled.

"Let's just get going," Lynn said. "I'm so hungry I feel like I could eat a horse."

It came as no surprise to the group that a party of 23 was met with shock from the ihop staff. While a few of them rejoiced at the thought of making serious bank, a few of the others were internally cursing at having to serve such a large party. There was a 15 minute wait for the group before they were finally sat at a table. Once seated, Lio immediately opened the Loud Family Friends Discord Groupchat that'd been created a while ago and began sending messages.

Lio Joestar: Okay, before we get started, I just want to make a simple request. That request being: could we please not get banned from this IHOP's like we did at that Denny's?

Lynnsanity: Why are you using the group chat when we're all sitting at the same table?

Lio Joestar: Because I'd prefer not to make a scene by yelling across the table at whoever I wanted to talk to. Plus, I'd rather not freak out our server by telling the story of how we got banned from Denny's.

Neko Neko (Kat): Y'all got banned from Denny's?

Literally Me (Lori): It's a long story.

Pageant Queen (Lola): Though it was pretty funny how it happened. Especially after Lincoln got involved.

Ace (Lincoln): To be fair, it was Lynn who started the food fight.

Lynnsanity: Hey, don't blame me, it was Luan's fault.

Luan Out Loud: What?! How was it my fault?

Lynnsanity: Because you wouldn't stop making food puns at the table.

Lynn's Little Geek (Chris): You don't get upset whenever I make food puns.

Lynnsanity: Yeah, because you don't do it all the time. And like I said, you're a special case.

One Dirty Girl (Lana): I still feel bad for that one waiter who ended up getting caught in the crossfire. Poor dude.

Neko Neko: So you guys are banned from all Denny's?

Ace: Not all of them. Just every Denny's in Maine.

Neko Neko: What kind of maniac family am I traveling with lol?

Ace: Hey, you signed up for this the moment you got with my brother.

Neko Neko: I didn't say it was a bad thing :P

Ana Ronalda (Ronnie Anne): Honestly, I have no room to talk about crazy families considering my familia.

Bobby: Ditto.

Inky Pinky Blinky (Clyde): Sorry to interrupt, but it sounds like you guys are really having fun. I almost wish I could've come with you guys.

Ace: Clyde, I have something that you just have to see!

Inky Pinky Blinky: Really? What is it?

Ace: Gimme a second.

Ace: [Lio_Kat_Outfit_ ]

Inky Pinky Blinky: Is that…

Ace: Yep.

Inky Pinky Blinky: And they…

Ace: Swapped outfits, yes!

Prodi-G (Lisa): We were just as surprised as you are.

Inky Pinky Blinky: Honestly they look kinda cute like that. Also, does this mean I owe you?

Neko Neko: Owe him what?

Ace: Nothing! He owes me absolutely nothing!

Inky Pinky Blinky: Don't you remember the bet we made? ;)

Ace: Clyde, I swear I will tell everyone your little secret if you don't ix-nay on the et-bay.

Pageant Queen: Is this the same bet I'm thinking about?

Lio Joestar: What bet?

Primo Designer (Leni): I think they're talking about the bet they made about you and Kat?

Neko Neko: And what kind of bet was that?

Ace: Hey, did any of you see the look on that waitress' face when she saw all of us together?

Rock Out Loud (Luna): Real smooth, Linc.

Lio Joestar: Don't try to change the subject, what kind of bet did you make and why did it involve me and Kat?

[Ace has muted Lio Joestar]

Neko Neko: You can't just try and silence us in hopes that we'll forget about it.

[Ace has muted Neko Neko]

[Primo Designer is typing]

[Ace has muted Primo Designer]

"Lincoln, what the heck!?" Leni shouted.

"Leni, Inside voices please," Rita scolded her.

Both Lio and Kat shot Lincoln a glare, the former's glare giving off a "If you weren't my brother, I'd slap you…" vibe and the latter's silently telling him "You're lucky we're in a public restaurant…". Lincoln gulped and looked down at his phone as the waiter came back to take their orders. Once everyone's order had been taken, they resumed their group chat.

Lynnsanity: You know what would be really great right now? Having a Grand Slam Breakfast!

Ace: This isn't Denny's.

Lynn's Little Geek: And even if it was, it's not like you'd be banned from here. I thought you guys were only banned from the ones in Maine.

Lynnsanity: True, but I still want my Grand Slam.

[Luan Out Loud is typing]

Lynnsanity: If you make a pun, I swear that when we get back to the hotel, I will throw you out the window.

Luan Out Loud: :(

Luan Out Loud: ;)

Lynnsanity: Don't you dare…

Luan Out Loud: I was just going to say that if you did, you'd really be bringing the _pane_.

Lynn's Little Geek: Please don't kill her. Please.

Lynnsanity: But…

Lynn's Little Geek: Please, for me. Just let it go.

Lynnsanity: Luan Out Loud You better thank Chris for bailing you out.

Luan Out Loud: I'll be sure to buy him the best wedding gift I can find.

Lynnsanity: Don't push your luck!

Lio shot Lincoln a dirty look, who shrugged and asked "What?"

"Do you think you could unmute us?" Lio asked.

"Only if you agree to drop the talk about the bet," Lincoln said.

"Let me make you an offer Lincoln," Kat said. "I won't throw _you_ out of the hotel room _if/when_ you unmute us right now."

"Are you threatening Lincoln?" Ronnie Anne asked, raising an eyebrow at Kat.

"Maybe I am," Kat said.

"That might not be a good idea," Sid said. "Ronnie Anne is really protective of Lincoln. She once told me that she can't stand seeing him get hurt…"

"Sid!" Ronnie Anne said.

"Sorry, I wasn't supposed to say that," Sid apologized.

"I guess our brothers have something in common," Lucy said. "Both of them have overprotective girlfriends." Lincoln, Lio, Ronnie Anne, and Kat all looked at Lucy. "What? It's true?" Lucy shrugged.

"So can you unmute us or not?" Leni asked.

"You, yes," Lincoln said, smirking at Lio and Kat. "You two, no."

Lio looked at Kat and said "I know what you said earlier, but could you please not throw my brother out the window?"

"Right, right, don't want me hurt your brother" Kat said. "I totally get it."

"No, I only ask because _I_ want to be the one to throw him out the window," Lio said.

"Nobody is throwing anybody out the window," Rita took charge, telling Lincoln "Lincoln, unmute your sister, brother, and his girlfriend…"

"It's not official yet," Lincoln whispered to her, making sure the others couldn't hear him.

"It's not?" Rita whispered back. "But I thought that by now, they would've…"

"They're both too oblivious right now," Lincoln whispered.

"Gotcha," Rita whispered before speaking up "Anyway, unmute them please."

"Alright, fine" Lincoln said, unmuting Leni, Lio, and Kat.

Lio Joestar: Now that I can talk again… Yare yare daze.

Ace: That! That is what you were dying to say?

Lio Joestar: Yes! It was!

Ace: Yare yare daze.

Lio Joestar: Hey, get your own catchphrase!

Prodi-G: Technically, that isn't even your catchphrase. You took it from JoJo's.

Lio Joestar: Yes, because it's appropriate for so many scenarios that you wouldn't believe it! Especially when I have to live with you lot.

The Silent (Lucy): Wow, love you too bro.

Lio Joestar: I didn't mean it like that. I'm just saying that there are a lot of times where you all drive me crazy.

Pageant Queen: You aren't exactly a ray of sunshine to put up with either!

Lio Joestar: I know. And I apologize for that.

Ana Ronalda: Okay, I know that this is super off topic, but I kinda wanna hear the story of how you guys got banned from Denny's.

Bobby: Same.

Neko Neko: Same.

K-Pop Queen (Sid): Same.

Literally Me: Alright, here's what happened. Bear with me because this is a long story…

One Dirty Girl: Hey, the food's here!

K-Pop Queen: Nooooooo! We were so close! I want to hear that story!

Rock Out Loud: We'll tell you all later.

A # (Sam): Promise?

Rock Out Loud: Sam, you aren't even here.

A #: I still wanna hear this story.

Rock Out Loud: Fine. I promise I'll tell it later.

Everyone put their phones down in order to eat and didn't speak a word to each other. Once they were done, the adults quickly paid the bill and the group returned to the hotel.

"So, are you going to change into your regular clothes now that we're back?" Lincoln asked Lio.

"Heck no," Lio answered, striking a pose. "I look bloody fabulous, why would I change now?"

"You do you, bro," Lincoln said, patting Lio on the back.

"Also, I'm still not over the mention of that bet," Lio said. "I really need to know what it's about."

"I'll tell you what, Lio," Lincoln said. "If you can beat me in a game of Mario Kart, I'll tell you everything you want to know. Sound fair?"

"No!" Lio replied. "You know I suck at that game."

"You suck at every game," Lola pointed out.

"Touché," Lio admitted, "but I'm especially bad at that game. I swear the controls are too slippery."

"That's the only offer I'm making," Lincoln said. "Take it or leave it?"

"Well since I'm apparently a part of this bet, how about I take you up on that offer?" Kat asked.

"You see, I would, but…" Lincoln gulped, looking nervously from side to side.

"What's the matter, Linc?" Kat teased. "Scared you're going to lose to a girl?"

"If that were the case, then he'd never challenge yours truly to a game of anything," Lynn chimed in.

"So what do you say, Lincoln?" Kat asked with a smirk. "Why don't you take me on in Mario Kart and if you lose, you tell us about this secretive bet…"

With no way out, Lincoln said "You're on! I was trying to be a gentleman and spare a fair lady such as yourself a humiliating defeat, but if you insist…"

"Trust me, Lincoln, I can be _very_ unladylike," Kat replied.

For once, it was the boys' room that was crowded, with Lincoln, Lio, Lynn, Chris, Kat, Ronnie Anne, Sid, Scotia, Lana, Luna, Luan, Lucy, and Adelaide all gathering around in the boys' suite to watch the game. Lincoln quickly set up the switch and handed Kat a pro controller while he took the other one.

"Last chance, Lincoln," Kat Said. "You can back out now and tell us what you know… or suffer a crushing defeat. The choice is yours."

"If I'm not willing to back down to Lynn or Ronnie Anne, what makes you think that I'll back down to you?" Lincoln asked.

Kat smirked and said "Your funeral," as the game booted up. "For added stakes, why don't we race on Rainbow Road?"

"What!?" Lincoln asked.

"You heard me," Kat replied. "Let's go big or go home!"

"You tell him, honey!" Lio cheered her on, quickly clasping a hand over his mouth.

"Chris, what was that term that refers to speaking subconsciously?" Lynn asked.

"Freudian Slip," Chris said.

"That's the one," Lynn laughed.

"So, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't we also have stakes in this bet?" Chris whispered to Lynn.

"Yep," Lynn answered.

"Then what are we going to do if Lincoln loses?" Chris whispered. "What if finding out about the bet changes the outcome and makes us all lose?"

"Don't worry about that," Lynn whispered. "I'm sure that Lincoln will pull through."

"So what do you say, Linc?" Kat asked. "You going to take the challenge or not?"

"Of course, it'll make it all the more sweeter when I defeat you," Lincoln said.

"Lincoln really seems confident that he'll win," Sid said to Ronnie Anne. "What if he loses?"

"He won't," Ronnie Anne said. "Trust me, when Lincoln has this much faith in himself, he almost always wins."

"But Kat seems confident too," Sid pointed out. "What if Lincoln's gotten in over his head?"

"Believe me, Sid, Lincoln's got this game won," Ronnie Anne assured her, whispering in her ear "And if he does find himself falling behind, he has a plan B up his sleeve."

Lincoln and Kat both selected their racers (Link for Lincoln, Yoshi for Kat), chose Rainbow Road and selected their difficulty (All items, Hard, 200cc). They shot each other a competitive smirk as the race began, revving up their engines before they got the green light. The two set off as fast as they could, kicking off what would be a close race. Much to Lincoln's surprise, Kat proved to be just as skilled as she was confident, using strategic use of items and excellent driving to pull ahead of Lincoln for a majority of the race. Lincoln stayed calm and did his best to try and close the gap between them.

"You know, it's not too late to surrender now," Kat taunted him.

"Not on your life!" Lincoln replied.

"You're so far behind that maybe I should turn around and drive backwards," Kat continued trash talking. "It's the only way I'd be able to see what second place looks like."

"She reminds me of you in some ways," Chris whispered to Lynn.

"How so?" Lynn asked.

"Well for starters, she's just as confident as you are when it comes to gaming," Chris pointed out. "Secondly, by all appearances, it seems that she doesn't mess around when it comes to winning."

"True," Lynn said. "Still, I'm pretty sure that I could beat her easily."

"I never said you couldn't," Chris giggled.

The race was reaching its final stretch and Lincoln was still trailing behind Kat.

"So about that Plan B…" Ronnie Anne whispered to Sid. "I think now is a good time to put it into action."

"What do you mean?" Sid asked.

"A… A… ACHOO!" Ronnie Anne faked a sneeze, stumbling over and "tripping" over onto Kat, causing the latter to suddenly veer off the track and into the abyss just as she was inches away from the finish line.

The distraction gave Lincoln enough time to catch up and surpass Kat before Yoshi recovered, nabbing Lincoln the victory.

"Tough luck, looks like I win," Lincoln gloated with a smug smile.

"No fair!" Kat protested. "Your girlfriend knocked me over at the last second, otherwise I would've won!"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Lincoln said before giving Kat a "talk to the hand" gesture. "Besides, all I'm hearing is excuses."

"What do you say to a rematch?" Lio asked on Kat's behalf.

"Sorry, that was your only shot," Lincoln refused. "No run backs!"

"Okay," Kat said before pointing at Ronnie Anne. "Then I wanna race her instead."

"Wha?" Ronnie Anne feigned confusion.

"You totally cost me that race," Kat pointed out. "So I was thinking that we settle the score in a race."

"Alright," Ronnie Anne said smugly as she took the controller from Lincoln. "Just don't make any excuses when I beat you fair and square."

"Hold up, I want in on this too!" Lynn said. "You two seem like worthy opponents, a suitable challenge for the one and only Queen of the Track, Lynn Loud Jr!"

"Do we wanna add a fourth player to the mix?" Lana asked, stepping up to play the game.

"But of course," Lynn said. "Anything to make this game more interesting."

"Good luck," Chris said to Lynn.

"Thanks, but you should be wishing them luck," Lynn said, pointing to the other girls. "They're the ones who are going to need it."

"Too bad you didn't bring your capture card," Lio said to Lincoln. "I have a feeling this race is going to be something that would've been perfect for your let's play channel."

"I know right!" Lincoln exclaimed with a frown. "It has everything: tension, drama, high stakes. Everything the viewers want out of their videos! I probably would've got more views from this than that Crash playthrough I made you do!"

"Don't remind me of that," Lio said bitterly. "I swear we should make "Lio, Seriously" shirts from how many times you said that during that LP."

The girls selected their characters (Mario for Lana, Rosalina for Lynn, Daisy for Ronnie Anne, and Luigi for Kat), chose the track they were going to race on and adjusted the difficulty (All items, Hard Mode, 200cc). The game loaded and as the countdown began, each of the players had a determined look on their face.

"Fair warning," Lynn said. "You're all going down."

"We'll see about that," Lana said confidently.

The race began and the racers sped off, each of them getting a boost from proper timing. It didn't take long before each girl drove through an item box and received a weapon. Lynn got a fire flower, Lana got 3 banana peels, Ronnie Anne got 3 red shells, and Kat got a mushroom. Utilizing her mushroom, Kat blazed past the other competitors to cinch the lead… at which point Ronnie Anne blasted her with one of her red shells. As Kat was momentarily stunned, the other girls sped past her, dropping Kat to fourth place. The scrappy geek quickly recovered and managed to bring herself back to a respectable third place behind Lynn and Ronnie Anne respectively. That is, until Ronnie Anne fired a red shell directly behind her and into Kat, causing her to drop back into fourth.

"Oh, so it's like that now, is it?" Kat asked, doing a Luigi impression.

"It's almost like we're competing against each other or something," Ronnie Anne teased.

"What is that voice you're doing?" Scotia asked Kat.

"Oh this?" Kat asked. "This is my manic depressed Luigi voice. I got it from SomeCallMeJohnny."

"Keep doing it, it's hilarious!" Adelaide chimed in.

"If you insist," Kat said.

"After I beat you, you'll have plenty of reasons to be manically depressed," Ronnie Anne bantered.

"Excuse me, both of you are forgetting about someone," Lynn piped up.

"Say it louder for the people in the back!" Lana said. "All of you are taking me too lightly!"

"Sorry Lana, but you know how I get when I'm in the zone," Lynn said. "But don't worry, second place is nothing to scoff at."

"Remember that when I come from behind and win," Lana advised her.

The girls hit their second item box. Lynn, currently in first, got a coin; Ronnie Anne, in second, got a Boo; Lana, in third, hit a double item box and got a power star and blooper; and Kat, in last place, got a Bullet Bill. She didn't get a chance to use it however since Ronnie Anne used her Boo to steal it from her.

"Son of a gun, that was mine!" Kat said, still doing her Luigi voice, causing everyone to crack up.

"I swear I'm going to split my sides if you keep doing that voice," Lincoln laughed.

"Sorry Luigi," Ronnie Anne said as she used the Bullet Bill to blitz into first. "Guess you'll just have to settle for being number two forever."

"Keep it up and you won't be able to do number two at all," Kat said. "After I shove my boot somewhere the sun doesn't shine." She paused before adding "And by that, I mean your-,"

"As I was saying," Ronnie Anne interrupted. "You just don't measure up to true greatness."

"I'll make you eat those words!" Kat replied

"While they're busy fighting, what do you say we focus on making sure that a Loud comes out the winner?" Lana proposed.

"Sorry Lans, but I share the spoils with no one," Lynn declared.

"Don't say I didn't give you a chance," Lana shrugged before activating her power star and blowing past Lynn and Ronnie Anne, knocking them both aside, racing into first place.

"Thanks for the assist," Kat said, still in character. "Now it's time for Luigi to clinch the victory, oh darn it, the screen is covered in ink," she said as Lana used her blooper. "Why do we keep this stupid squid around? All it does is shoot its ink everywhere and who do you think has to clean all that up? Here's a hint: it's not Mario.".

The first lap came to an end with Lana in first, Kat in second, Ronnie Anne in third, and Lynn in last.

"Hey, what was that you said about driving backwards to see what second place looks like?" Lincoln teased Kat.

"Forget you, Link!" Kat said, still in her Luigi voice. "You needed a literal deus ex machina to win our little spat and now you're going to mock me? Forget you! Your grandma's a rotten ham sandwich!"

"What does that even mean?" Lincoln laughed.

"It's getting harder to tell whether she's in character or genuinely ranting," Luna observed with a laugh.

"Can you see why I like her so much?" Lio asked.

"Is that the only reason?" Luan teased.

"Leave my boyfr- err, Colonel alone," Kat said, breaking character for a brief moment. "He's a real shy guy."

"Freudian Slip!" Scotia pointed out.

The girls went through another item box, this time with Kat getting the double item box, receiving a fire flower and jukebox respectively. Lana received a green shell while Lynn got a piranha plant and Ronnie Anne got a trio of red shells. Soon afterwards, Kat passed Lana to secure first place. Her lead wouldn't last long as Ronnie Anne hit her with one of her red shells as she was crossing a large gap, causing Kat to fall into a pit and allowing Ronnie Anne and Lynn to take the lead.

"Okay, Luigi sees what kind of game this is going to be," Kat said, getting back in character as her character recovered.

"Okay, now I really wish I had brought my recording equipment," Lincoln lamented.

"Oh am I supposed to be worried?" Ronnie Anne taunted Kat.

"Oh please, Luigi's gone against undead entities, what chance do you have?" Kat replied.

"Does Luigi just constantly refer to himself in the third person?" Lucy asked.

"In this case, yes" Kat replied in character. "Luigi's been beaten down and kicked and spit on so many times that he's learned he has to become his own best friend and hype himself up."

"This suddenly just got really depressing," Lucy said.

"Eh, just another day in the life of Lui- will you cut that out!?" Kat said as Ronnie Anne struck her with another red shell, keeping her in fourth place.

"Sorry Luigi, I couldn't resist," Ronnie Anne said.

"Alright, before it was just a matter of avenging a loss, now it's personal," Kat said.

"Give it your best shot!" Ronnie Anne encouraged her.

"You two, get out of my way, Luigi has a vendetta," Kat said to Lynn and Lana as she exclusively went after Ronnie Anne.

"Oh, so now you're targeting the big dog, huh?" Ronnie Anne asked. "Are you challenging me?"

"You bet your sweet bippies I am, now get over here!" Kat said, dodging a third red shell from Ronnie Anne. "You can't stop Luigi now!"

"But I can!" Lana said, launching her green shell at Kat.

"Nope, now stay out of my way," Kat said, dodging the shell. "Get in my way, I swear to Speedwagon that I will-,"

"You'll what?" Lynn asked, pulling up beside Kat.

"I'll do this!" Kat declared, using her jukebox to stun both Lana and Lynn and allowing her to catch up to Ronnie Anne. "You can't stop Luigi! No one can stop Luigi! Luigi decides when Luigi goes or fails!"

By this stage, the entire room was laughing their butts off. Kat was already playful and teasing as it was, but with her impression of Luigi, it was taken up to eleven.

"I swear I'm going to laugh myself unconscious!" Lincoln said.

"Luigi, it's nothing personal, it's just business," Ronnie Anne said.

"You've been targeting Luigi the whole race and now you wanna say "nothing personal"?" Kat said, mimicking Daisy's voice during the last part of that sentence before switching back to her Luigi voice. "It's too late for that, now get over here, you screwball!"

"I don't think I will," Ronnie Anne said, driving through another item box and getting a blue shell. "In fact, I think I'll save this for later."

"You're just planning to use that on Luigi out of spite, aren't you?" Kat asked. "Well here's a truth bomb for you, you know all those nights that we spent in Cancun? Luigi wants you to know that he was faking it every time!"

"What the…" Ronnie Anne asked, bursting into laughter. "Are you trying to distract me by making me laugh?"

"Maybe I am," Kat said with a smirk. "Wait a second, what do you mean you're laughing at Luigi? Does Luigi's pain amuse you?"

Chris was absolutely losing it at this point, prompting Lynn to say "Breathe Chris, breathe!"

"I'm trying but I can't keep a straight face when she does that voice!" Chris said, gasping for breath.

"I haven't heard you laugh like this in a long time," Lynn laughed as Chris continued to lose his mind.

"Joker here!" Luan said, doing an impression of her own of Mark Hamill's Joker. "I've infected the room with laughing gas, our first casualty: Christopher Taylor!"

Meanwhile, in game, the competitors were coming up on the last lap. Ronnie Anne was in first, Kat in second, Lynn in third and Lana in fourth.

"You know what? Luigi has the perfect solution to dealing with that blue shell of yours," Kat said before using the lightning bolt she had been holding onto.

"Oh you cheeky pendeja," Ronnie Anne said, spinning out, losing her item and falling behind Kat. She quickly recovered and got a red shell item, which she promptly used on Kat.

"You know, there are other competitors!" Kat said as she fell in fourth place. "You've used every item you've gotten on Luigi, what did Luigi ever do to you?"

"You mean aside from being out to get me?" Ronnie Anne replied. "Nothing, but this is just fun."

"You know, this is why Bowser doesn't kidnap you anymore!" Kat replied. "That and the creepy third eye of yours, you freak!"

"And this is why you'll always be in Mario's shadow," Ronnie Anne retorted.

"Let Luigi know when Mario gets an entire year dedicated to him," Kat shot back.

"Mario got a whole 30 years dedicated to him," Ronnie Anne pointed out.

"She's-a got you there, bro," Lana said.

"Sh-Shut up, nobody asked you!" Kat said, catching up to Ronnie Anne and using her piranha plant to chomp her. "Haha, gotcha Princess!"

"Bro, shouldn't you-a a-be trying to-a win this race?" Lana asked.

"Luigi doesn't care about winning anymore, he just wants revenge," Kat said.

"Doesn't that-a seem a little unhealthy?" Lana asked.

"What did Luigi say earlier?" Kat asked. "Get in Luigi's way and I swear to god I will wreck your stuff!"

By this point, Kat had caught up to Ronnie Anne and was pushing her off track and towards a pit.

"What are you doing?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Luigi told you, he has a vendetta!" Kat said. "Go ahead, use a shell again, Luigi dares you. Luigi double dares you, mother father!"

"But Luigi, if you do this, neither of us will win!" Ronnie Anne pointed out.

"Luigi doesn't care, it's all about payback now!" Kat said. "Seriously though, where's your items now!?"

"No! Nooooooo!" Ronnie Anne said as she was pushed towards the pit.

The sound of laughter was all that could be heard as everyone was losing their minds. The whole race has devolved into complete chaos.

"Try and sneeze on me," Kat said, still in character. "Go ahead, try it again, so Luigi can laugh at you some more!" She succeeded in pushing Ronnie Anne into the pit at the cost of falling off the track herself. Meanwhile, Lynn won the race with Lana coming in second. Once she recovered, Kat claimed third place, leaving Ronnie Anne to place last. "Luigi's laughing too hard now because-,"

"And you still beat me!" Ronnie Anne laughed.

The group laughed for a full two minutes before finally calming down and regaining their composure.

"Alright, truce?" Ronnie Anne asked, offering a hand to Kat.

"Truce," Kat said, shaking Ronnie Anne's hand.

"My stomach hurts from laughing so hard," Lio said, doubling over. "Oh my DIO, Kat I swear that was attempted murder!"

"Again I cannot say this enough, but I really wish I didn't forget my capture card and microphone," Lincoln said.

"Don't worry, I captured everything on my camera," Luan said.

"Would you mind sending the video to me later so I can upload it to my channel?" Lincoln asked.

"Sure, no problem," Luan said.

"So who's next?" Lynn asked. "I need a new set of challengers to face off against me!"

"You know I'm willing and able," Chris said, sitting down next to Lynn.

"Normally, I'm not one for kart racers, but after that, how could I resist?" Luna said, picking up the third controller.

"Ooh! Ooh! I wanna play! I wanna play!" Sid said, taking the third controller.

"You know what would be a great idea?" Lincoln asked. "We should have a Mario Kart tournament. See who can handle the wheel best!"

"I'll all for that idea," Lucy said.

"Me too!" Scotia said.

"Make that a third," Adelaide chimed in.

"Then it's decided," Lincoln said. "We're going to have the greatest Mario Kart tournament there ever was." He then turned to Luan and asked "Do you think you could keep your camera rolling for this?"

"As long as the battery doesn't die, sure" Luan said. "Especially if we're going to get more Luigi out of this."

"Of course you're going to get Luigi, Luigi's the main star of this attraction!" Kat said before coughing, laughing and breaking character. "The only downside about doing that voice is that it kills my throat."

"Don't worry, Luigi can take over for Luigi if Luigi can't handle the stress," Lio said in his own Luigi impression.

"Who do you think you are, trying to take Luigi's spotlight?" Kat asked. "It took 57 years for Luigi to reach the prime time and now you're just trying to take it away from him!?"

"Maybe if you weren't such a scaredy cat, it wouldn't have taken you so long," Lio retorted.

"Oh god, they're multiplying!" Ronnie Anne said.

For the rest of the day the Louds and their friends raced against each other in Mario Kart, determined to crown a champion. Needless to say, Lio and Kat had completely forgotten about the bet Clyde had first mentioned, just as Lincoln planned.

**Day 3**

On today's agenda of this 14 day Disney getaway was a trip to the Epcot theme park. The plan was for the families to explore Epcot's attractions before gathering around near the end of the day for the annual EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays. As with all Disney parks, there was plenty to explore and check out and just as they had done at Universal, the group split up into groups to avoid causing a cluster. As there were two primary areas of the park, the first area that the entire group explored was Future World. Everyone had their own attraction that they wanted to see and split up to check them out.

Lisa, Lucy, Rita, Lily and Leni to visit the iconic Spaceship Earth to view Project Tomorrow (and so Lisa could critique their amateur predictions on the future of technology); Crash, Lynn Sr, Luna, Adelaide, Lori, and Bobby wanted to check out the Test Track; Jubilee, Lana, Lola, Luan, Sid, and Scotia were headed to The Imagination pavilion to check out its attractions; Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were going to get on the Mission: Space ride; Chris and Lynn to the Epcot Experience Center, and Lio and Kat going to The Seas aquarium. As mentioned earlier, they all agreed to meet back up with each other at the end of the day for the Holidays festival.

"I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit confused Linc," Ronnie Anne said. "I thought that you and Clyde had already been on something like this when you went to that space camp"

"We did," Lincoln admitted. "But we didn't exactly have a good time."

"So you're hoping that this time will go better?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"More or less," Lincoln said with a shrug. "Plus, I'm hoping to find something I can outlast you in."

"Ha, fat chance lame-o," Ronnie Anne replied. "I bet you'll be screaming like a baby after 5 seconds."

"And I bet that you'll be begging to get off after 3 seconds," Lincoln retorted.

"Only in your dreams," Lincoln said before pausing, causing Ronnie Anne to ask "What?"

"Nothing," Lincoln replied, shaking his head. "It's just that I'm so used to my brother making smart aleck remarks that I was expecting to hear "In your dreams, you dream of kissing Ronnie Anne in the pale moonlight" or something."

"I know what you mean," Ronnie Anne said, nodding her head. "Sid and my abuela constantly make comments about us being in love."

"Us? In love?" Lincoln scoffed with a laugh. "Yeah right!"

"I know right!" Ronnie Anne laughed along. "There's no way we could ever work out."

"And why is that?" Lincoln suddenly stopped laughing, sounding genuinely offended by what Ronnie Anne said.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Why couldn't we work out?" Lincoln asked before quickly backtracking and saying "Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm saying I like you like that or anything, I'm just asking why us being a couple wouldn't work."

"Oh come on, Lincoln, you know why," Ronnie Anne said nervously, teasing Lincoln by saying "We both know that I'm way out of your league."

"Oh please, if anything I'm out of your league," Lincoln retorted in an equally teasing tone. "Do you know how many girls would kill to go out with me?"

"Your imaginary friends don't count, you dork!" Ronnie Anne replied, getting a laugh out of the white haired boy.

"I'm serious though, why wouldn't we work out as a couple?" Lincoln asked, sadly asking "Was it something that I did?"

"What!? No, of course not!" Ronnie Anne said quickly. "You haven't done anything wrong, it's just that… that…"

"Just what?" Lincoln asked. "Do you already have a boyfriend or something?" For some reason, Lincoln felt himself become uncharacteristically jealous at the thought of Ronnie Anne having someone else.

"Don't be silly, why would I have a boyfriend?" Ronnie Anne replied.

"Then what's the reason?" Lincoln asked. "Is it that I'm just not good enough?"

"No! Absolutely not!" Ronnie Anne told him. "Trust me, this has nothing to do with you."

"If it's not me, then what is it?" Lincoln asked.

Ronnie Anne briefly turned away from Lincoln and said "I know this is going to sound cliche, but it's not you, it's me."

"What do you mean by that?" Lincoln asked.

"Don't you remember?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Remember what?" Lincoln asked.

"The way I treated you when we first met," Ronnie Anne answered. "The way I used to tease and pick on you, I was basically a bully."

"Ronnie Anne, that was a long time ago," Lincoln reminded her. "I don't even remember half the stuff you're talking about."

"Yeah, well I do," Ronnie Anne said. "Like the way I used to push you around, or that time I gave you a black eye."

"So what?" Lincoln replied. "I grew up with 10 sisters, I can take a little roughhousing. Heck, a black eye is nothing compared to what I've gone through with my siblings."

"That isn't the point," Ronnie Anne said, facing away from Lincoln again. "Lincoln, it's not that you're not good enough for me; it's that I'm not good enough for you."

"What? That's crazy talk!" Lincoln said, placing a hand on Ronnie Anne's shoulder. "Don't be ridiculous."

"It's true," Ronnie Anne said. "Let's face it, Linc, if we were to get together, it'd be a toxic relationship. It'd be an abusive relationship."

"An abusive relationship?" Lincoln questioned. "Ronnie Anne, have you been listening to too many K-pop songs again?"

"I'm serious!" Ronnie Anne said. "I mean, look at the way we interact with each other. Most of the time it's just me calling you names. Then there's all the times that I punch you in the shoulder and the bullying thing I mentioned before."

"Are you still caught up on that?" Lincoln asked before laughing. "Ronnie Anne, we both insult each other and neither of us actually mean what we say. We don't do it to hurt each other or tear ourselves down. Besides, I have thick skin so even if you did mean it, it wouldn't bother me at all."

"But-," Ronnie Anne tried to object.

"And about the bullying thing," Lincoln said. "You can't just beat yourself over it forever. Like I said, it was so long ago that I hardly remember it. I'm not mad at you about it or anything and we all do things we regret. If that's the reason you think we wouldn't work out, you couldn't be any more wrong."

"Do you really mean that?" Ronnie Anne asked, turning to face Lincoln.

"With every fiber of my being," Lincoln said, grabbing Ronnie Anne by her hand.

The two looked each other in the eye and blushed momentarily before becoming conscious of the situation.

"I'm not going to lie, we really would be a cute couple," Ronnie Anne said. "We'd even put my brother and your sister to shame."

"Yeah, they'd be so jealous," Lincoln said.

"We'd probably make your brother and his girlfriend jealous too," Ronnie Anne said.

"What do you mean, they're totally not a couple," Lincoln said jokingly.

"Shame because they'd be perfect together," Ronnie Anne said. "Just like Sid's cousin and your sister, Lynn."

"They still wouldn't have anything on us though," Lincoln said. "You wanna know why we'd outshine all of them?"

"Because we both make each other stronger than we were before?" Ronnie Anne replied.

"Exactly!" Lincoln said before he and Ronnie Anne shared a hug.

"I am so glad that Sid isn't here," Ronnie Anne said. "She'd never let me hear the end of this."

"Neither would Lio or Lynn," Lincoln laughed.

"Still, how strange is this?" Ronnie Anne asked. "This is the first time on this trip that we've been alone and had a moment to ourselves and we spend it talking about how good of a couple we'd be."

"Good thing we're not a couple then," Lincoln said.

"Well of course not," Ronnie Anne said.

"I mean it's not like I like you or anything… baka/lame-o!" Lincoln and Ronnie Anne said in stereo. The two then smiled at each other.

"You know, this really isn't helping our case when we say that we aren't dating," Ronnie Anne said.

"Then quit completing my sentences," Lincoln scolded her.

"I didn't complete your sentence, you completed my sentence!" Ronnie Anne retorted.

"Whatever," Lincoln said, locking arms with Ronnie Anne. "So what do you say we get on this space ride and see who lasts the longest?"

"Fine by me," Ronnie Anne said. "Just don't start whining when I outlast you."

"Oh please, I might have to sit one seat away from you so that you don't end up throwing up on me," Lincoln said.

"As if I'd throw up on you," Ronnie Anne said. "Then I'd have to see you topless and I'm not sure if my eyes can handle that amount of paleness."

"Have you seen my abs?" Lincoln asked. "Seriously you could grind meat on them."

"Again, Lincoln, your imagination doesn't count," Ronnie Anne snarked. "Honestly Linc, you can be such a geek sometimes."

"Yeah, but I'm your geek and you're stuck with me," Lincoln said with a smile. "And admit it, you wouldn't have it any other way."

"Really not helping with the whole "we're not dating" thing, lame-o!" Ronnie Anne said.

"Alright, I'm done," Lincoln said as the two got strapped into the centrifuge and offering Ronnie Anne his hand to hold. "You know, if you get scared, you can always hold my hand."

"Oh, what the heck?" Ronnie Anne said, smiling and grabbing hold of Lincoln's hand. "It's not like any of our family or friends are here to see us."

"Are you trying to say you're embarrassed to be seen with me?" Lincoln asked.

"Shut up, you know exactly what I meant," Ronnie Anne laughed.

Meanwhile, Lio and Kat were having a good time at The Seas aquarium.

"I've gotta be honest with you, Colonel, I didn't expect you to be interested in fish and sea creatures like this," Kat said.

"Why of course, Lieutenant," Lio replied. "I absolutely adore the ocean and all the life it contains."

"Really?" Kat asked. "You've never shown interest in the ocean before."

Lio chuckled and said "When we get back to Royal Woods, I'll show you one of my notebooks. It's filled with drawings of starfish, sharks, squids, octopi, coral reefs, and more."

"Any dolphins?" Kat asked.

"No," Lio said, shaking his head. "Dolphins terrify me."

"Why?" Kat asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Lio replied. "Dolphins can be just as evil and malicious as humans sometimes."

"Wow, I didn't know that," Kat said. "Still, it's interesting that you have such an interest in the ocean."

"Yeah," Lio said. "Fun fact about me: if I didn't aspire to write manga, my goal in life would be to become a marine biologist."

"Tell me, would you be inspired by Jotaro?" Kat asked.

"Him and Stephen Hillenburg," Lio said before his eyes lit up. "In fact, when we get back to the resort, I'm totally drawing a comic of Jotaro meeting Stephen Hillenburg."

"I look forward to seeing that," Kat said before she started singing "When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie, that's amore…"

"Why are you singing?" Lio asked.

"I wasn't," Kat said, pointing at a display of moray eels. "I was pointing to them. Get it? A moray eel!"

Lio cracked up at that and said "Wow, I didn't expect you to be one for puns."

"I guess hanging out with you has rubbed off on me," Kat said with a smile. "And maybe talking to your sister?"

"Which sister?" Lio asked.

"You already know the answer to that question," Kat said.

"Luan?" Lio asked. "What would you be talking to Luan about?"

"Mostly about you," Kat said, smirking and telling Lio "But if you want to know what we were saying about you, that's too bad. My lips are sealed."

That made Lio pause and grow quiet as he pondered for a moment what they could've been talking about.

"If it makes you feel any better, we weren't saying anything bad about you," Kat said. "At least, not entirely."

"I'm sorry, what?" Lio asked.

"Just kidding," Kat said before catching a glimpse of something behind Lio and saying "Uh oh"

"What?" Lio asked.

"Nothing," Kat said, making an effort to keep Lio from turning around. "Just don't look now and focus on the manatees over there!"

"Why?" Lio asked. "What's behind me that I shouldn't see?" He asked as he looked behind him and shrieked when he saw a display of three bottlenose dolphins behind him. "Ahhhh!"

"Are you okay?" Kat asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lio said as he recovered. "I guess I should've heeded your advice when you said not to look behind me."

"It was kinda my fault," Kat said. "I probably should've just kept my mouth shut and pointed out something else you would enjoy."

"No no, you're not to blame at all," Lio said. "Thank you for not tricking me into turning around or forcing me to look at those little monsters or making fun of me for being scared of them."

"Why would I do that?" Kat asked him.

"I don't know," Lio shrugged. "We do have a tendency to tease and banter with one another."

"Yeah, but that's always in good fun," Kat said. "We never do anything that could genuinely upset one of us. I mean, sure, I occasionally threaten to make you eat chocolate, but you never get bothered by it and I always do it in a playful manner."

"I know," Lio said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess that I just assumed you'd make fun of me because of how I see Lincoln and Ronnie Anne interact with each other."

"Lio, you're not your brother and I'm not Ronnie Anne," Kat told him. "We're our own people. We don't have to act in the same way they do." Kat looked away from Lio "I'm legit hurt that you think I'd exploit your fears for a cheap laugh. I thought you knew me better than that."

"I'm sorry," Lio apologized. "I admit, it was wrong of me to jump to that conclusion." Lio wrapped his arm around Kat's shoulder and said "Tell me what I can do to make it up to you."

"I don't know," Kat answered. "I know it's not that big a deal, but I thought you trusted me more than that."

"Are you sure there's nothing I can do?" Lio asked.

"I never said that," Kat said.

"Good, because then I'd have to do this!" Lio said before giving Kat puppy dog eyes.

"You're really going to use the puppy dog eyes on me?" Kat asked incredulously.

"Come on Lieutenant, you know you can't resist the eyes," Lio said with a smug smirk.

"I can if I close my eyes," Kat giggled as she closed her eyes and looked away.

"You can't keep your eyes closed forever," Lio teased.

"Shows what you know," Kat replied.

"Oh my DIO, Kat you're never going to believe this!" Lio said, trying to get Kat to open her eyes. "I swear Kat, you've gotta see this! This sorta thing only happens once in a lifetime! Wow, I can't believe they did that!"

"That's not going to work," Kat said, trying to keep from laughing. "You are such a dork sometimes."

"Maybe so, but I'm a dork that's seeing something spectacular," Lio said.

"Really, and what would that spectacular something be?" Kat asked as she relented and opened her eyes only to see Lio looking her in the eye, still giving her puppy dog eyes.

"It was you," Lio answered, smiling at Kat.

"Awww, that's so sweet of you," Kat said.

"So are you still mad at me?" Lio asked.

Kat giggled and said "You were right, I can't stay mad at you when you do the eyes."

"In that case, let's check out the tiger sharks," Lio said, pointing at the attraction.

"What about Polnareff though?" Kat asked, pointing to the sea turtle exhibit.

"That's not Polnareff," Lio said. "Polnareff is trapped in a tortoise, not a turtle. Yare yare daze, Jotaro would be disappointed in you."

"Oh, please forgive me oh knowledgeable marine biologist mangaka," Kat said, mockingly bowing at Lio's feet.

"You know, I just realized something," Lio said.

"What?" Asked Kat.

"We've known each other for almost a year now and you've never told me what your dreams are," Lio said.

"Well yeah, because compared to you, my dreams are mind numbingly mundane and boring," Kat said.

"Hey, don't say that," Lio said. "Everyone has something they aspire to do and no one should feel ashamed of what their dreams are."

"Do you mean that?" Kat asked and Lio nodded his head. "Alright, my dream is-,"

"My dream is for you two losers to shut up," said an obnoxious half pint around the pair's age. "I just wanna look at some freaking sharks tear stuff apart."

"What was that?" Kat asked as Lio tried getting her to calm down.

"Relax Lieutenant, maybe we were being a little loud," Lio said in that soft almost whispery voice he got when he was scared.

"What, no way!" Kat said. "We have every right to talk while we look at these fish."

"Maybe, but I'd prefer to be able to hear myself think instead of listening to you two dorks blab on and on," The kid replied.

"Then feel free to go somewhere else!" Kat told him off.

"Lieutenant, let's not cause a scene, let's just move on," Lio said, shrinking away from the kid.

"If I were you, I'd listen to your boyfriend," The kid said to Kat, threatening her "Or else…"

That made Lio angry and caused his shy demeanor to fade away as he got in front of Kat, stood in front of the kid and asked, "Or else what?"

"Whoa, calm down, you wouldn't hit a sweet little girl, would you?" The kid yelled, causing eyes to fall on the three of them. The brat figured that she had Lio beat as she knew the shrinking violet wouldn't dare hit a girl and that even if he was willing, there'd be a crowd of adults on hand to reprimand him. "And by the way, this is the or else!" The girl said before poking Lio in his right eye.

"Ahhhh!" Lio screamed, clutching at his eye.

"Colonel!" Kat yelled, checking on Lio before hauling off and socking the smug bratty girl in the face, knocking out a tooth and knocking the girl unconscious. She then grabbed Lio by the hand and pulled him along as they ran out of the aquarium. "Come on Colonel, we've gotta go."

"What did you do?" Lio asked, still tending to his injured eye.

"She put her hands on you, no one puts hands on you," Kat said. "Not while I'm around at least."

"Awwww," Lio swooned, needed Kat to guide him along thanks to packing vision in one eye.

As they ran, both of them were thinking the same thing: "How did I get gifted with a treasure like him/her?"

"So why did you wanna come here again?" Lynn asked as she and Chris explored the Epcot Experience Center.

"I just thought this place would be nice to check out," Chris explained as the two of them looked at a display of minimalist posters. "Not to mention that this is our chance to spend some real alone time with each other before the festival tonight."

"Yeah, that thought really does sound nice," Lynn admitted with a smile before catching herself. "J-Just don't get any stupid ideas."

"No, I'll leave that to you," Chris said playfully, drawing an indignant "Hey!" from Lynn.

"Relax, I'm just kidding," Chris assured her. "I wouldn't actually call you stupid in a million years…" Chris pauses and looked away sadly.

"What is it?" Lynn asked.

"Nothing," Chris lied, trying to play off his sudden emotional change. Were he with anyone else, they would've believed him. Lynn however saw right through him right away.

"You know you can't lie to me, right?" Lynn asked. "Just tell me what's going on."

"It's nothing," Chris insisted.

"We can do this the easy way or I can force it out of you," Lynn said.

"I don't know why I thought I could hide it from you," Chris said before relenting. "Alright, I was thinking about that fight we had one time."

"What fig-," Lynn asked before instantly remembering.

"The one where we didn't end up speaking to each other for a whole week afterwards," Chris reminded her. "The one where I called you a stupid dumb muscle meathead…"

"Yeah, that fight," Lynn muttered as she and Chris blankly stared at a few more of the posters before walking away. "I wasn't completely innocent in that fight either, I said some pretty nasty things myself during that argument."

"What was that argument even about?" Chris asked.

"It's been so long that I have no idea," Lynn said. "I do know one thing though…"

"Me too…" Chris said before he and Lynn simultaneously said "That one week without you was the worst week of my life."

Chris looked at Lynn and asked "Do you really mean that?"

"Well duh," Lynn said. "Chris, we've been best friends since grade school, you're almost as much of a brother to me as my actual brothers are. That one week without you just felt…weird. Like an… what is that word?"

"Anomaly?" Chris suggested.

"Yeah, that's the word," Lynn said. "I'm not exaggerating when I say that it felt like literal torture not having you in my corner. I felt more alone than I ever have. It was even worse than my miserable first year of middle school."

"Are you serious?" Chris asked.

"Yes," Lynn said. "At least during that year, I could still turn to you for help and comfort. During that one week, I truly had no one I felt I could talk to."

"That week wasn't much better for me either," Chris admitted. "I'll admit, for the first day after that argument, I was still pretty heated, but by the second day I was already missing you. I mean, you talk about me being there for you during your first year of middle school, but you were there for me my first day of school in general. When I first moved to Royal Woods, I had no one…"

"What about your brother, Shogo?" Lynn asked.

"Well, you could say that I had him but he couldn't really relate to me the same day that you did when I met you," Chris said. "Besides, I was 4 years old when our family moved to Royal Woods, there wasn't exactly much that he could do."

"Fair enough," Lynn conceded.

"So during that week where we didn't speak to each other, it brought me back to that time where I didn't have anyone," Chris said. "I felt like I was the only person in the world and that the isolation was driving me crazy. It actually kinda did drive me crazy now that I think about it."

"I know what you mean," Lynn said. "One thing I regret from back then is not calling you back the day after that argument."

"Same," Chris said. "I thought about doing that, but didn't because… I honestly thought that I had lost your friendship forever."

"Did you really?" Lynn asked. "Did you really think I'd abandon you over some silly argument?"

"I know, I know, it was stupid of me to think that," Chris said. "But I'm going to be honest with you, as calm and laidback as I try to appear, I tend to overthink things, especially when it comes to people I care about."

"I didn't say it was stupid," Lynn said. "I was only asking because I had the same thoughts."

The two looked at each other and laughed before Chris said "Wow, even when we're apart, we tend to think alike."

"Yeah," Lynn agreed. "Shows just how close we are, I guess."

"Closer than you'll ever know," Chris said. "You may not believe me when I say this, but you mean the world to me. And I know you don't like me being mushy, but when I thought that I lost you, it felt like the world became a lot darker."

Lynn didn't object, but she did noticeably blush. Unlike previous times where she blushed, this time Lynn didn't even try to hide it. Instead she smiled at Chris, resembling a shy schoolgirl who'd just gotten a compliment from her crush. Mostly because that's exactly what she was in this moment. This was a side of her that she rarely showed to anyone else. Chris couldn't help but smile himself at how cute she looked with that blushing smile of hers, although he refrained from actually calling her cute as he knew how she'd react to that. Chris walked with Lynn over to the main display room which featured a dazzling Spaceship Earth/Epcot diorama that was illuminated by projections and display screens. At the moment, the background projection was one of an encroaching sunrise before it suddenly switched to one of a starry night with the diorama being lit up with bright colors.

"This background and lighting is actually kinda appropriate," Chris said. "I feel like it represents my world perfectly. Even in the darkest times, I can count on you to light up my world."

"That's really cheesy, even for you dorkface," Lynn told him before quietly asking "Do you really mean all that stuff though?"

"Would I ever lie to you about anything?" Chris asked her with a smile. Lynn almost squealed from joy, but kept her composure and instead grabbed Chris by his hand and led him outside. "Where are we going?"

"I thought we'd check out the World Showcase while we're here before the festival tonight," Lynn lied. Truthfully, she wanted to get out of the experience center and into the noisy outside that way if she screamed, it'd be drowned out by the chit chat of others. She truly wondered how she had gotten this wonderful nerd to fall for her. "Maybe you can teach me a little bit more about your Chinese heritage."

"Um… okay," Chris said, wondering if he had perhaps creeped Lynn out with his words. Far from it. The only thing Chris has done was make it harder for Lynn to wait until Christmas to give him his special gift.

Chris and Lynn weren't the only ones who decided to check out the World Showcase. After having to hastily leave the aquarium, Kat and Lio had head over to the Japan Pavilion. Lio had his right eye bandaged after the vicious eye poke he'd endured. Kat was honestly still fuming over what that girl did to him. If they hadn't had to leave in a pinch, Kat would've done a lot more than punch her in the face. While Chris and Lynn were watching the Reflection of China exhibit, Lio and Kat were checking out the exhibition gallery. The two otakus were more than a little engrossed by the exhibit's Kawaii Life presentation. Both parties were so entranced by their respective exhibits that they were surprised when the time came for them to meet back up with the others for the Festival of the Holidays.

Similar to what had happened at Universal, the pair of Lincoln and Ronnie Anne ended up running into the pair of Chris and Lynn and Kat and Lio while on their way to meet back with the others. Even more interesting was the fact that all three Louds were holding hands with their respective friends. There was a moment of silence shared between the three duos before all three pairs told each other in perfect sync "We won't tell anyone about you if you don't tell anyone about us."

What followed was another few seconds of silence before Ronnie Anne asked "Truce?"

"Truce!" Everyone agreed.

Ronnie Anne and Lincoln immediately let go of each other's hand, with Ronnie Anne huffing and saying "Don't get the wrong idea, I was only holding his hand to keep him from wandering off."

"Yeah right," Lincoln said. "It's more like I was holding your hand to keep you from freaking out."

"Yeah, and Chris and I were just…" Lynn struggled to come up with an excuse.

"Lynn was just massaging my knuckles!" Chris said quickly.

"That's it," Lynn said, nodding her head.

Everyone turned to Lio and Kat, who simply shrugged and said "We have no excuse."

"What happened to your eye?" Lincoln asked Lio.

"Oh, we just had a little um, confrontation," Kat explained.

"How is it that you manage to get hurt whenever we go anywhere?" Lynn asked Lio.

"Do you see now why I hate leaving home?" Lio asked.

"Colonel…" Kat scolded him.

"I know, I know, I'm not allowed to just hide in our hotel room," Lio said. "But to be fair, our first destination was boring as dirt for most of our time there and then we came here and I ended up with a… what did you say it was?"

"A corneal abrasion," Kat answered.

"Right," Lio said.

"How did you get that?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Like I said, we had a confrontation with this bratty girl at the aquarium," Kat said. "She poked my Colonel in the eye so I knocked out one of her teeth. It seemed like a fair trade."

"Wow," Chris said.

"Okay, are you guys sure you're not dating?" Lincoln asked.

"It's just what friends do for each other," Lio said. "I mean, I'm pretty sure Ronnie Anne would do the same thing for you."

"Well of course I would," Ronnie Anne said without a hint of shame. "Why would I let someone hurt my friend like that!?"

"I remember that Dad once said something about the men of the Loud family always go after strong women," Lynn mentioned, saying to Lincoln and Lio. "And it seems like you two are no exception."

"What about those who pursue the women of Loud family?" Lincoln asked. "I mean, Chris has to be pretty strong to keep up with you?"

Lynn and Chris exchanged a look before smiling at each other. They didn't utter a word, but instead walked away to meet with the rest of the gang. The Festival itself was quite a spectacle to behold, captivating the entire family. When it was all said and done, the Louds and friends packed up and headed back to the resort. When they got there, Sid just couldn't wait to ask Ronnie Anne how it went between her and Lincoln.

"So, tell me, tell me, tell me!" Sid said excitedly. "How did it go with you and Lincoln!"

"It went just as it expected," Ronnie Anne said. "Nothing special happened, we just had a good time like friends do…"

"Is that so?" Sid asked with the biggest grin on her face. "Because unless my eyes were deceiving me, I'm pretty sure I saw you and Lincoln holding hands at one point…"

"What?" Ronnie Anne asked. "When did you see that? How did you see that?"

"I got separated from my group when I was coming back and I caught a glimpse of you and Lincoln holding hands," Sid said. "Alongside my cousin and Lynn, and Lincoln's brother and his friend. Honestly the six of you looked so cute together. Like a couple of love-,"

"Alright, enough," Ronnie Anne said, clasping a hand over Sid's mouth. "What will it take to get you to keep quiet about seeing me and Linc?"

"I want the details," Sid said. "How did you and Linc end up holding hands? Have you two finally realized that you're madly in love with each other and embraced it? Are you guys a couple now?"

"It's not what you think," Ronnie Anne tried to tell her. "We made a bet with each other on who could last longer on the space ride and he jokingly held my hand in case I got afraid…"

"And then what?" Sid asked.

"Well, neither of us exactly lost our bet," Ronnie Anne explained. "In fact, I was so fixated on how our hands were touching that the ride itself is a blur. All I know is that when the ride came to an end we were still holding hands and just didn't want to let go of each other."

"Were his hands soft?" Sid asked.

"Oh, unbelievably so!" Ronnie Anne confirmed. "Seriously, his hands were softer than mine, they were like touching a cloud."

"Probably a result of having ten sisters," Sid laughed. "So what happened next?"

"What do you mean?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Did you two confess your love to each other?" Sid asked.

"No!" Ronnie Anne said. "Although…"

"Oooooh…" Sid squealed, even more excited.

"We did talk about the possibility of us dating," Ronnie Anne told her. "I brought up the things I did to him in the past and how I felt like that meant we didn't have a chance."

"And what did Lincoln say?" Sid asked.

"He said that it didn't matter," Ronnie Anne said. "That he didn't even remember all the bad stuff I did to him. He even said that he was glad it happened because if it hadn't, we never would've met each other."

"So does that mean what I think it does?" Sid asked.

"Probably not," Ronnie Anne said. "All this means is that he's not mad at me, that he doesn't hate me and that… he wouldn't reject me if I asked him out."

"Oooh, Girl! You've gotta shoot your shot!" Sid said. "You've gotta ask him out before it's too late."

"Calm down, Sid," Ronnie Anne said. "You're acting like we're going to get married or something."

"Well, that would be pretty cute," Sid said.

"Yeah, it would," Ronnie Anne admitted with a smile.

"But I'm serious," Sid said. "Lincoln's a cute guy, you can't let someone like him get away from you."

"I know," Ronnie Anne said.

"So when are you going to ask him out?" Sid asked.

"I don't know," Ronnie Anne said. "But I'm not going to let Lame-O slip through my fingers."

"And then you two can get married and have 14 kids and live happily ever after," Sid said, half jokingly.

"Goodnight Sid," Ronnie laughed, throwing a pillow at Sid as she turned over and went to bed.

**Day 4**

Another day, another break from the attraction visits. The gang were staying at the resort today and since they had nothing else to do, the kids decided to explore the hotel and see what there was that they could do to occupy their time. For Chris and Lynn, they decided to take a run around the resort's 1 mile jogging trail. As to be expected, Lynn was ahead of Chris by a considerable margin.

"Come on, Chris, are you even trying?" Lynn asked as she kept the lead with ease.

"Whatever happened to just taking it slow and easy?" Chris asked as he started to catch up. "I mean, we are on vacation, you don't have to be so intense."

Lynn turned around to face Chris and continued running backwards, saying "I mean, yeah, you have a point, but where's the fun in that?"

"Not everything has to be a contest," Chris told her as he took a moment to catch his breath.

"Yeah, I know," Lynn said before smirking at Chris. "But it does tend to spice things up. Now pick up the pace, your brother Shogo told me that you've been getting lazy when I'm not around."

"What? I have not!" Chris insisted.

"Well, it doesn't hurt to be safe," Lynn said, still running backwards.

"Speaking of which, watch out!" Chris yelled at her.

"Watch out for wha-?" Lynn started to question before the back of her head smacked against a light post.

"Maybe running backwards without looking where you're going isn't the best idea," Chris giggles, reaching down to help Lynn off the ground.

"You know, yelling "watch out" without telling me what to watch out for isn't exactly helpful," Lynn said as she begrudgingly accepted Chris' help while rubbing the back of her head.

"Sorry about that," Chris apologized. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm alright," Lynn said, shaking her head.

"I'm surprised you didn't knock down that light post considering the fact you literally befell a tree with your backside," Chris said.

"Most likely because I wasn't going full speed," Lynn said. "I had to slow down so that you could keep up with me."

"Thanks for being so considerate," Chris said.

"I know right, I'm the nicest girl in the world," Lynn said, joking "And if you think otherwise, I'll twist you into a pretzel!"

"Hey, you'll get no arguments from me," Chris chuckled.

"No Chris, you were supposed to say "No Lynn, you're the toughest, strongest girl to ever live, you're totally not nice at all."," Lynn said. "Are you trying to ruin my reputation?"

"Well you're right about being the toughest and strongest girl who ever lived," Chris said. "But why would I say something so clearly untrue as you not being nice?"

"Because I'm not nice!" Lynn huffed, crossing her arms. "I'm a complete queen who rules with an iron fist!"

"Lynn… it's just the two of us," Chris reminded her. "You don't have to keep up the act."

"Oh… right," Lynn said. "Sorry, I just get so caught up that I forget it's okay to let go sometimes."

"You already know that I'm not going to judge you or abandon you," Chris assured her.

"I know and I thank you for that," Lynn said. "Thanks for being so patient for me. I'm still trying to figure all this stuff out."

"I know," Chris said. "Also, you don't have to thank me. I wouldn't dream of ever not being there for you."

"Doesn't it ever get irritating though?" Lynn asked. "Having to help me all the time? Having to remind me that it's okay to relax every once in a while."

"It doesn't get irritating at all," Chris said. "Truth is, I really just want you to be happy."

"What are you talking about?" Lynn scoffed. "I'm totally happy! How could I not be?"

"I know that you're happy, at least right now," Chris said. "But I can tell that you're still hurting."

"Oh please, do you really think some stupid lightpost could hurt-," Lyn started to respond.

"That's not what I'm talking about," Chris said.

"Then what are you talking about?" Lynn asked.

"Do you remember that first year of middle school?" Chris asked.

"How could I forget?" Lynn replied. "I've told you, that was the worst year of my entire life!"

"I can tell," Chris said. "Because it really changed you."

"Yeah…" Lynn muttered, not even offering a rebuttal.

"I mean, before all that stuff went down, you weren't nearly as intense," Chris said. "You still liked you win, but whenever we played games you would play them for fun." Chris smirked and said "You also didn't mind when someone called you cute, in fact you used to openly blush whenever I said you looked cute…"

Lynn's face flushed red as she tried using her hair to hide her face.

"Just like you're doing right now," Chris chuckled.

"Yeah, what's your point?" Lynn retorted.

"What I'm saying is that I want you to be able to go back to being that way," Chris explained. "Don't get me wrong, you're perfect the way you are, but I wish that you could go back to being more carefree and chill. You seemed a lot happier then."

"I'll admit that I was happier back then," Lynn said. "But I can't ever go back to being the "prissy little girl" I used to be! Also, thanks for telling me how you really feel. How you just want me to be some perfect bland frilly girly girl!"

"That's not what I was saying," Chris tried to defend himself. "I like you just the way you are, I told you that!"

"Do you really like me just the way I am or are you just like everyone else and sick of having to put up with me!?" Lynn snapped. "Is that why you want me to change back into being a nobody!?"

"What do you mean?" Chris asked, gently grabbing Lynn by her hands. "Lynn, nobody hates you… well maybe rival sports teams, but they don't even matter!"

"No, you're lying, I can see it in your eyes!" Lynn accused him. "I bet you're just like my family, they probably can't wait to get rid of me!"

"Why would you think that?" Chris asked her.

"Why wouldn't I think that?" Lynn replied. She looked away from Chris as tears started forming up in her eyes. "I mean look at me! I'm brash, I'm loud, I'm obnoxious! I take things too seriously! All I care about is winning! I treat my brothers like trash to the point I wonder why they even hang out with me! If I were them, I'd be dying to get rid of me!"

"Lynn, none of that is true," Chris said. "I don't want to get rid of you. Your family doesn't want to get rid of you. You're such an important part of our lives we couldn't dream of being without you."

"Don't lie to me!" Lynn hissed, turning her back to Chris once again. "How could anyone put up with me as long as they have!?"

"Because none of those things you said about yourself are true," Chris told her. "Not a single thing you said about yourself is true."

"Yes it is!" Lynn said, looking around to make sure no one was watching before actually breaking down and crying. "I'm just an obsessive meathead."

Chris quickly spun Lynn around and embraced Lynn in a tight hug.

"That's enough," He said firmly. "I'm not going to let you just trash talk yourself as if you're some sort of monster."

"But-," Lynn tried to object, only for Chris to hold her tighter.

"No buts," Chris said. "Lynn, you're not some sort of desperado, you're desperate…"

"What are you?" Lynn asked.

"You have this constant desire to be perfect at everything you try," Chris pointed out. "Because you're scared that if you slip up or make a single mistake, people are going to call you out and you'll go back to those days when you were-,"

"A nobody!" Lynn said. "A nobody and a loser!"

"I was going to say when you were tormented," Chris said, still holding Lynn in an embrace. "Lynn, you've never been a nobody or a loser. You've always been awesome!"

"You don't really mean-,"

"I told you Lynn, that I'd never lie to you," Chris said. "Those days are long behind you, I'll never let you go back to being bullied. You have my word."

Lynn had no words and instead buried her face into Chris' shoulder.

"You're far stronger than you think you are," Chris told her. "You're not obnoxious and your family doesn't want to get rid of you. None of us do. You can call me cheesy, but like I told you yesterday, you light up my world. If I were to lose you, it'd be comparable to the sun going out."

"Thanks," Lynn said, taking a second to wipe the tears from her eyes. "I needed to hear that."

"I know, and I'll always be around to remind you of those facts whenever you need to hear them," Chris said.

"Thank you," Lynn said before smiling at Chris and asking "So, what do you say we continue our little jog?", offering Chris her hand.

"That sounds lovely" Chris said, holding her hand as the two resumed their run.

**Day 5**

On the list for today was a trip to Disney Hollywood Studios. To say that everyone was excited would be an understatement. With each passing day, they were drawing closer and closer to the main attraction that they'd come for. As to be expected, everyone had their own set of rides that they wanted to get on and split up into groups. Just as had been the case prior, Lincoln was paired with Ronnie Anne and Sid, Lynn was side by side with Chris, and Lio was joined by none other than Kat.

"Okay, so I know you're a huge Star Wars fan so I'm guessing you wanna check out all the Star Wars themed attractions?" Lynn asked Chris.

"You know me all too well," Chris said.

"You're not the only one who studies the psychology of their friend," Lynn said. "Only question I have is which Star Wars ride you wanna get on?"

"_Rise of the Résistance_," Chris answered quickly.

"Wow, do you need a second to think about it?" Lynn quipped.

"Sorry," Chris said sheepishly. "As you can tell, I'm really excited about getting on this new ride! It literally only opened a few days ago and I wanna be part of the first to experience it!"

"You? Excited?" Lynn said sarcastically. "You sure could've fooled me, I thought you were dying of boredom."

"Well I might not be dying of it, but I am getting bored just standing here instead of checking out the ride," Chris said.

"Say no more," Lynn said. "Just hop on my back and I'll get you there in a jiffy!"

"My legs still work you know?" Chris laughed.

"Yeah, but I could still use a workout," Lynn said.

"We ran around the mile long jogging trail 4 times yesterday!" Chris pointed out.

"Yeah, and that was light work," Lynn said. "Normally I run at least 10 miles."

"Whatever happened to taking a vacation?" Chris asked, wrapping an arm around Lynn and reminding her. "Besides, you promised me you were going to take it easy and relax a little more."

"Hmpf, why you gotta be such a fun Nazi?" Lynn asked, crossing her arms and pouting.

"Oh, I'm a fun Nazi, am I?" Chris asked with a coy grin. "HEY EVERYONE, LOOK HOW CUTE MY FRIEND, LYNN, IS!"

"Chris, I swear to god I'm going to kill you," Lynn muttered as she used her hair to hide her blushing red face as everyone in the park turned to look at her.

"Calm down, you know I don't mean anything by it," Chris said. "Besides, you do look rather cute like that."

"I'M NOT CUTE!" Lynn huffed.

"You are too," Chris argued with a giggle.

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Whatever," Lynn scoffed. "Speaking of R2, shouldn't we be getting on this ride that you were just dying to get on?"

"Thanks for reminding me," Chris said. "I just know that the ride is going to be epic."

"You really think so, huh?" Lynn asked, a devious grin forming on her face.

"I don't like that look in your eye," Chris said cautiously.

"Why whatever do you mean?" Lynn feigned confusion. "I'm just really happy to see you so excited is all."

"You're up to something," Chris said. "I don't know if I can trust you…"

"Come on, Chris," Lynn said, pushing Chris towards the line for Rise of the Resistance. "Would I ever lie to you?"

Lynn's delivery of that question has a smarmy tone to it that only served to make Chris feel more uneasy. Still, he didn't have it in him to call Lynn a liar or accuse her of planning anything. Thus, he answered Lynn's question with a "I'm sorry I ever doubted you, I don't know what I was thinking."

"Then let's not waste any more time," Lynn said. "Let's check this sucker out."

Waiting in the line didn't take as long as either of the two thought it would. Everyone who went into the ride seemed to come out satisfied with their experience, something that only made Chris more excited. By the time he and Lynn were near the front of the line, Chris was practically bouncing up and down like an inflatable castle.

"Wow, I know you said you were a huge Star Wars fan," Lynn said. "But I didn't expect you to be this giddy"

"Sorry, really I am," Chris said. "I don't know how to explain it, but I haven't been this hyped since The Force Awakens was announced!"

"I thought you said that movie was a bit of a disappointment and didn't live up to the original trilogy," Lynn pointed out.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean the ride is going to be the same way," Chris replied.

"Looks like we're about to see right now," Lynn said as they were escorted to the 8 seat ride vehicle and were seated in the front row.

Lynn seemed to block out the narrative the attraction was establishing, but Chris was eating it up. Thus, Lynn had a lot of questions when the ride began proper.

"So is it ever established why these white armored guys have such terrible aim?" Lynn asked.

"In universe, no," Chris whispered. "Out of universe, the answer is simple: if these guys were crack shots, they'd kill the heroes no problem and the movies would end before they even began."

"Well, I guess I should be thankful for that," Lynn whispered back. "Since if they hit us, that would presumably mean the end of the ride."

As the ride entered the next room, Lynn pointed at the AT-ATs and whispered to Chris "I don't know why, but those always looked like camels to me."

"Camels?" Chris questioned, prompting Lynn to shrug and say "Yeah… camels, that's what they looked like to me. What else are they supposed to be?"

"Technically, the walkers are based off of an extinct genus of rhinoceros called the Paraceratherium, the largest land mammal in history," Chris told her before shrugging. "But, hey, it is up for interpretation so if you see a camel that's fine with me."

"Oh look, the crybaby," Lynn said in reference to the Kylo Ren audio animatronic figure.

"Huh?" Chris asked.

"I dunno," Lynn shrugged. "People keep saying that that guy, Kyle, or whatever his name is, throws a bunch of temper tantrums when things don't go his way and that he's a weak villain."

"Well, they're not exactly wrong about the temper tantrum thing," Chris said. "But his name is Kylo Ren and there's actually more to him. He's probably one of the more interesting things about the new trilogy."

"Interesting," Lynn said. "Maybe one day we can sit down, watch the new movies and you can explain everything to me."

"But I thought you said you hated Star Wars," Chris reminded her. "You said that you thought the movies were too boring."

"I did," Lynn said. "But watching them with you would make it more tolerable… plus it'd be the perfect chance for me to riff on them."

"Who knows?" Chris asked. "You might end up actually liking them by the end."

"Hmm, maybe" Lynn thought for a moment as the ride became a motion simulator for a few seconds.

Up until this point, she'd considered the ride to be boring, but she'd refrained from saying anything in order to allow Chris to enjoy the ride. Now though, now she was in her zone. It was almost a shame that the ride came to an end shortly afterwards, just as it had been getting good. Chris, of course, had loved every second of it all the same and had the biggest smile on his face as they excited the attraction.

"Okay, I know that probably wasn't your thing, but that was epic!" Chris cheered.

"So long as you had fun, I had fun!" Lynn said, giving Chris a high five.

"That so lived up to the hype!" Chris exclaimed. "The movies might not be as good as the originals, but at least the rides based off of them are great!"

"So I take it that means you did have a good time?" Lynn asked with a coy grin.

"You bet!" Chris said before noticing the mischievous look on Lynn's face. "Why do you-?"

"HEY EVERYONE, LOOK HOW CUTE MY FRIEND CHRIS IS!" Lynn yelled at the top of her lungs, bringing attention to her and Chris once again.

This time, it was Chris' turn to blush as his face turned bright red and he used his bangs in an attempt to obscure his face.

"This is payback from earlier, isn't it?" Chris asked sheepishly as he tried his hardest to hide his face.

"Oh come on, you knew it was coming," Lynn said, continuing to smirk as she reached up to give Chris a headpat. She wrapped an arm around Chris and whispered "Nothing personal, but you just know I couldn't let you get away with embarrassing me earlier without getting you back."

"Yeah, I know," Chris said, nodding his head, face still hidden behind his bangs. "I definitely should've seen that coming."

"Now that we're even, why don't we get on another ride or check out something else?" Lynn asked.

"What do you have in mind?" Chris asked.

"I did see a poster for an Indiana Jones Stunt Show," Lynn said.

"Indiana Jones?" Chris asked.

"Don't get the wrong idea, I just wanna see how they pulled off all those awesome stunts from the movie!" Lynn said excitedly.

"Please tell me you're not gonna try doing the stuff you see at home," Chris pleaded with her.

"I make no promises," Lynn said.

"Lynn…" Chris scolded her.

"Alright, fine," Lynn relented. "I promise that I won't try any of the dangerous stunts we see at home."

"And…" Chris said.

"Nor will I try any of these stunts on the playground at the park," Lynn said. "Or at school, or at your house. There, are you happy? Now can we go?"

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Chris said, letting Lynn lead the way.

The two weren't the first to arrive on the scene for the show, finding themselves amongst a rather large audience. Although she'd been forced to make a promise not to try recreating any of the action that'd be showcased, Lynn figured she could still get some enjoyment out of this stunt performance. As long as the stunts didn't look cheap, tacky or so basic that even a 5 year old could pull them off, she'd be satisfied. For that reason, it was much to her pleasure that the stunt show started out pulling no punches by re-enacting the iconic Peruvian temple scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, complete with spikes, false floors and other booby traps that tested the actor recreating said scenes.

"I never took you as being big on Indiana Jones," Chris whispered to Lynn.

"I've always been an action movie fan," Lynn told him. "High speed chases, brutal fight scenes and explosions are all right up my alley,"

"Is that why you wanted to come to this show?" Chris asked.

"Well, I was going to see if I could learn some pointers from this show to use in my training regiment," Lynn said. "But someone made me promise not to try this stuff at home."

"Aren't you basically a ninja?" Chris asked. "How could any of these cheap choreographed tricks help you train?"

"Because… these guys are probably going into it with safety harnesses and protocols," Lynn answered. "Stuff that takes away from the real fun of pulling these stunts off. I wanna pull these things off without restrictions or anything to hold me back. It's like they say, go big or go home."

"But what if you get hurt?" Chris asked.

"Do you really think I'm that reckless that I'd hurt myself training?" Lynn asked. "Sure, I'm a thrill seeker and can sometimes be impulsive, but I'm never reckless."

"Fair point," Chris said.

At one point in the show, the performers selected a few people out of the crowd to participate in the show. Despite raising her hand high in the air and screaming for the crew to pick her as one of the extras, Lynn was passed over, something that drew her ire.

"Can you believe them?" Asked an irritated Lynn. "How could they pass me up like that? I would've been perfect for this thing!"

"Might have something to do with the fact that you have to be at least 18 to be chosen as an extra for these things," Chris pointed out.

"Who's the idiot who came up with that stupid rule!?" Lynn snapped.

"Probably an idiot who didn't want to risk getting sued by angry parents should something go wrong and their precious angel gets hurt," Chris told her.

"Dumb age requirements," Lynn grumbled as she sat back in her seat.

"If it makes you feel any better, most of the people they chose don't really get to do anything aside from just stand around and get a closer look," Chris told her. "And the one person who does get to participate is a plant."

"A plant?" Lynn questioned.

"A plant is an employee that has been dressed up as a fan and hidden in the crowd to give the illusion that anyone can be chosen to participate in the act," Chris informed her. "In fact, look at that dude in the Hawaiian shirt, do you see him?"

"Yeah," Lynn said, spotting the man right away. He wasn't hard to miss with how colorful his shirt was.

"Do you notice how out of place he looks compared to everyone else?" Chris asked.

"Yeah," Lynn answered, nodding her head.

"I can say without a shadow of a doubt that he's the plant," Chris said.

Chris was proven right when the man wearing the Hawaiian shirt was the last audience member called up to participate. Just as Chris predicted, the Hawaiian shirt "tourist" proved to be the only extra who actually got a chance to do anything, much to Lynn's disappointment.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Lynn said with a huff as she turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" Chris asked as he followed her.

"I'm not old enough to get chosen and even if I was, all I'd be getting is an up close seat," Lynn said. "My excitement has been thoroughly ruined and I am extremely disappointed."

"But what about the rest of the show?" Chris asked. "You might see something cool."

"Maybe, but I'll pass," Lynn said. "No point in watching other people have all the fun in my opinion. Come on, let's see what else this place has to offer."

"If you insist," Chris said, following right behind her.

In another part of the park, Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, and Sid were gearing up to get on another roller coaster. In contrast to a few days prior at Universal Studios where she'd been petrified of getting on the Rip Ride Rockit coaster, this time Sid was absolutely ecstatic. Coincidentally enough, the roller coaster that the three of them were getting was very similar to the Rip Ride Rockit as it also had a musical theme to it. The roller coaster in question was the _Rock n Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith_. What was even crazier was the fact that it was Sid's idea to get on the ride in the first place, much to Ronnie Anne's surprise.

"Sid, are you feeling alright?" Ronnie Anne asked her friend, placing a supportive hand on her shoulder as the trio waited in line.

"Yeah, I'm fine, why do you ask?" Sid asked.

"It's just that four days ago you were terrified at the thought of getting on one of these things," Ronnie Anne pointed out.

"In fact, I think at one point you called it a hulking metal death trap," Lincoln reminded her.

"Yeah, but that was before I actually got on the Rip Ride Rockit," Sid said. "And I ended up having the time of my life on that ride!"

"Still, I don't think it's healthy for you to jump into the deep end so quickly," Ronnie Anne said. "I mean, before getting on the Rockit ride, you said that every other roller coaster you'd been on had been a nightmare. What if this one makes you relive the experience."

"I'm sure I'll be fine," Sid assured her with a friendly pat on the back. "Although I may have to sit in between you and Linc so that you two don't get stuck holding each other's hands again…"

"You told her!?" Lincoln asked Ronnie Anne.

"I didn't tell her anything!" Ronnie Anne said. "She figured it out on her own!"

"How?" Lincoln asked.

"Oh, that's easy, I saw the two of you holding hands at Epcot the other day," Sid said.

"You know, maybe I will let you sit next to Ronnie Anne," Lincoln said. "After all, you may need to hold her hand more than I do."

"That was one time!" Sid said. "I swear I'm not going to get scared again!"

"Good," Ronnie Anne said, "because I don't think my hand could take any more of your vice like death grip."

"Who knows? Maybe Lincoln will be the one who needs to hold your hand," Sid said. "And you did mention that he had soft hands."

"What?" Lincoln asked.

"Nothing!" Ronnie Anne said quickly. "I would offer to sit in the middle between the two of you so that there was enough of me to go around… but there's only enough room for two people per row."

"Go ahead and sit with Sid," Lincoln said. "She might pass out like my brother and fall asleep on your shoulder."

"Oh please, dream on!" Sid retorted with a giggle, prompting Lincoln and Ronnie Anne to exchange a glance. "Get it?"

"Did she just?" Lincoln asked. "Was that supposed to be a-?"

"She's been hanging around your sister a lot," Ronnie Anne filled him in. "And frankly, she's been learning on how best to drive us all crazy."

"Don't blame me," Sid said. "It was the gangsta rap and the peppermint schnapps!"

"Apparently she's been hanging around Lisa a lot too," Lincoln said.

"Honestly, I still can't believe your genius sister, who built a particle accelerator out of a broken hairdryer and a toaster listens to gangsta rap," Ronnie Anne said.

"Looks can be deceiving, can't they?" Lincoln said.

"What surprises me is that your sister Luna didn't tag along for this," Sid said.

"Yeah, she's not exactly a big fan of Aerosmith," Lincoln explains. "She says that they're highly overrated and not worth the hype. She still likes them, but not as much as she likes AC/DC or The Beatles"

"So Aerosmith is overrated, but the Beatles aren't?" Sid retorted.

"Hey, take that up with her, I'm just the messenger," Lincoln said.

"Hey, is it me or is this line taking forever?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"No, it's not just you," Sid said. "It feels like we've been waiting here for hours on end."

"I guess this ride was more popular than we thought," Lincoln said before looking around.

"What are you doing?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Making sure that Lio or Lynn aren't around," Lincoln answered.

"Why?" Ronnie Anne asked. "I mean, I know you say that they can annoy you sometimes, but-,"

"It's just that we seem to have a tendency of running into each other wherever we go or vice versa," Lincoln said. "And every time that happens, it's always when we're…"

"When we're what?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"When we're doing something that makes it look like we're going out with each other," Lincoln said.

"You're not fooling anyone, you know," Sid teased.

"Quiet you," Ronnie Anne said, giving Sid a friendly slap on the head.

"Ow! Child abuse much?" Sid joked.

"Like I said, this hurts us much more than it hurts you," Lincoln said.

"Actually, that didn't hurt me much at all," Ronnie Anne said. "In fact, the only thing that's hurting me is how long this line is and how much time we've wasted waiting here."

"Hey, don't run out of steam and roll on out of here," Sid said, wrapping an arm around Lincoln and saying "Otherwise, me and Linc would have to get on the ride without you!"

"Honestly, maybe I should let you two dorks get on the ride together," Ronnie Anne said.

"Hey!" Sid protested.

"We may be dorks, but face it, you're stuck with us," Lincoln said, wrapping an arm around Ronnie Anne while Sid was still hanging onto him. "We're practically joined at the hip."

"Ew, no way," Ronnie Anne laughed. "That would be an absolute nightmare."

"More like it'd be your dream come true," Sid taunted.

"Really making the thought of leaving you two more tempting," Ronnie Anne said.

"No problem, Lincoln and I can have plenty of fun on our own," Sid said, winking at Ronnie Anne.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Relax mom," Sid said. "I just mean that Dad and I can have a good time being "dorks" by ourselves."

"I mean, what did you think she meant?" Lincoln got in on the teasing. "She's our daughter, it's not like we're going to try anything…" He wriggled his eyebrow and added "not that you'd care anyway."

"To steal your brother's catchphrase… yare yare daze," Ronnie Anne sighed. "You two really are a handful." As the trio reached the front of the line, Ronnie Anne said "In fact, you know what? You two sit next to each other that way you don't drive me crazy."

"I like how she acts like we're the biggest annoyance in the world, but would lose her mind if anyone messed with us," Sid said.

"That's because you belong to me and I don't like people messing with what's mine," Ronnie Anne said.

"Good one," Sid said, slapping her knee and laughing before nudging Lincoln with her elbow. "Man, Ronnie Anne sure does know how to tell a joke, huh?" She stopped laughing when she noticed that Lincoln wasn't laughing alongside her. "Right?"

"She's not joking," Lincoln said. "Before she moved to Great Lakes City, Ronnie Anne threatened to beat up anyone she caught bullying me." Lincoln then pulled out his phone and showed Sid a picture, saying "And just make sure no one knew not to mess with me…"

The picture in question showed Lincoln with the words "Property of Ronnie Anne Santiago" written in red letters on the backside of his pants.

"Awwww," Sid swooned, poking Ronnie Anne and saying "And you say that you don't care for that little lame-o!"

"Not one word of this to anyone," Ronnie Anne hissed as the trio got onto the ride.

Lincoln and Sid got in the first row while Ronnie Anne sat behind them. As the vehicles began to move and the music started to play, Ronnie Anne could swear that she could hear Lincoln and Sid chatting amongst themselves. She tried not to think about what they were saying, but the thought was persistent in her mind. Honestly, those two of them deserved each other for a few minutes. She did have to be honest, if it was any other girl sitting with Lincoln, she would've felt slightly jealous. Since it was Sid however, her jealousy subsided greatly. Plus, Ronnie Anne felt some relief at the fact that if Sid did get scared, it'd be Lincoln's hand that got crushed this time around. As the ride picked up speed and reached its first inverted loop, the patrons let out a joyful scream as they went through said loop. Two screams in particular stood out to Ronnie Anne. A scream that sounded like a combination between someone having the time of their life and pure unadulterated fear; a scream that clearly belonged to Sid. The other scream sounded like a combination of someone having the time of their life and screaming in pain. That scream definitely belonged to Lincoln and if Ronnie Anne could take a guess as to why, it was because Sid was crushing Lincoln's hand in her vice like grip. Looks like Ronnie Anne made the right call to sit by herself.

When the friends got off of the ride, Ronnie Anne noticed the expressions on Lincoln and Sid's face. Sid's hair was wild and unkempt while she wore an energetic smile on her face. At the same time, she seemed like she was trying to play off her fear from going on the ride. Lincoln meanwhile, was holding his left hand, a half grimace, half smile on his face as he tried to play off the pain he felt.

Ronnie Anne couldn't help but shoot them a teasing smirk as she asked "So did you two enjoy yourselves?"

"Yeah of course we did," Lincoln said quickly, hiding his hand behind his back.

"Yeah, it was never better!" Sid said as she fixed her hair.

"Uh Huh, I could tell," Ronnie Anne said. "Both of you were screaming like banshees. I could barely even hear the music over your screams."

"We were just getting in the mood," Lincoln said.

"Yeah, nothing like a high speed thrill to get your blood flowing," Sid added with a conspicuous grin.

"Is that so?" Ronnie Anne asked. "Lame-o, let me see your hand."

"I don't know why you wanna see my hand, but sure," Lincoln said, showing Ronnie Anne his right hand.

"No, I mean your other hand," Ronnie Anne said.

"You see, I would show you but…" Lincoln tried to think up an excuse.

Ronnie Anne didn't give him a chance to think up a lie and pulled Lincoln's left hand from behind his back. Seeing it confirmed her suspicions as Lincoln's hand was slightly bruised with a few raw red marks.

"I can explain," Lincoln said.

"Sid's iron grip?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Yeah," Lincoln nodded with a sigh.

"Need me to "massage your knuckles"?" Ronnie Anne asked with a smirk.

"I mean, if you want to then I'm not going to object," Lincoln said, allowing Ronnie Anne to take him by the hand.

"Come on guys," Sid said. "I'm getting bored just standing around here and I don't wanna wait in another long line. Let's go!"

"She's got a point," Ronnie Anne said. "I'd rather not get stuck waiting again."

"Then let's not keep her waiting," Lincoln said, following behind Sid as Ronnie Anne's soft grip alleviated some of the pain in his hand.

While those three were looking for their next ride, Lio and Kat were taking a list of which rides to avoid. The last thing either of them wanted was a repeat of Universal where they wasted most of their day getting on lackluster rides. The two of them considered getting on the Aerosmith Rock n Roller Coaster, but one look at the line quickly dissuaded them from even trying.

"Shame the line is so long," Kat said. "If it weren't, I'd love to get on that one."

"I know what you mean, Lieutenant," Lio nodded his head in agreement. "I feel like we'd just be spending the rest of our time here waiting for that line to clear up if we chose to try getting on it."

"Then what are we going to do?" Kat asked. "No offense, but some of these rides are too kiddy for my liking."

"Same," Lio said. "But if we keep looking, I'm sure we can find-," he said before stopping mid sentence and staring straight ahead.

"What?" Kat asked Lio as the latter stood staring ahead with a hate filled glare in his eyes. "Colonel, are you okay?"

"There," Lio whispered as he pointed straight ahead. Kat turned her head to see what he was pointing at and saw that Lio was pointing at The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attraction.

"The Twilight Zone drop tower?" Kat asked. "What about it?"

"Remember that story my sister, Lynn, told you?" Lio asked. "The one about me and Lincoln getting on the drop tower ride at the carnival?"

"You mean the one where you-," Kat started to say before Lio interjected.

"Yes, the one where I passed out and peed my pants," Lio cut her off, knowing what she was going to say. "While it wasn't this exact ride, it was a drop tower ride that caused my moment of humiliation!"

"What are you getting at?" Kat asked.

"This is my chance at redemption!" Lio declared. "This is my chance to truly overcome my previous trials and surpass my weaker past self!"

"I thought you already did that when we got on the Rip Ride Rockit," Kat said.

"That was only symbolically," Lio replied. "This is my chance to literally redeem myself and correct that past error!"

"You seem really determined about getting over that incident," Kat observed.

"I'm not saying that I need to do this," Lio said. "But what little pride I have in me will not allow me to pass up the chance of rectifying my mistake."

"Then what are we doing standing around here?" Kat asked as she grabbed Lio by his wrist and dragged him along. "Let's get on that "Tower of Terror" and make it look like the joke it is!"

"Y-yeah, let's do it," Lio stammered, his voice somewhat trembling. "Let's knock this out of the park!"

"What's wrong, Colonel?" Kat asked. "I thought you said you wanted to redeem yourself."

"I did, I mean I do!" Lio insisted before he sighed and asked "Can I be truthful with you, Lieutenant?"

"Of course you can," Kat said. "Tell me what's bothering you."

"Well, if I'm being honest with you, part of me is concerned that I might… you know, have a repeat of what happened last time," Lio admitted. "Like, what if I pass out again? Or what if I wet myself again? What if I just wet myself, but stay conscious? What if I just pass out and you have to wake me up or they call an ambulance and it makes us the center of attention? Or maybe I'll-,"

"Lio, that thing you're talking about happened several years ago," Kat cut him off. "You were 8 years old when that happened."

"What's your point?" Lio asked. "I'm still the cowardly little mouse I was back then. I could still-,"

"That's not going to happen again," Kat told him. "You're not the same person you were back then. Heck, you're not even the same person you were when I first met you."

"What do you mean?" Lio asked.

"When we first met, you were literally hiding in a corner and could barely talk to me at first," Kat reminded him. "The first time we hung out, you were too scared to look me in the eye and were so quiet that I sometimes forgot you were there."

"Yeah, I remember that…" Lio said.

"Now look at you," Kat said. "You and I talk all the time, you always show me the art that you're working on before you show anyone else, even your brother. You're even willing to go out in public just to see me, when before you didn't even want to leave your house outside of school."

"Yeah… yeah, I guess you're right," Lio said, starting to gain a little confidence.

"You've already overcome your past self in that regard," Kat said. "You've proven that you're stronger than you once were!"

"But-," Lio tried to say.

"Please tell me that you're kidding me!" Kat laughed. "This basic ride has you scared and has you doubting yourself? You're way better than that!"

"Hmm?" Lio asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yare yare dawa," Kat sighed. "If you don't believe in yourself, then at least believe in the me that believes in you!"

A smirk spread across Lio's face as he felt his confidence rising. With a triumphant look in his eye, Lio looked at Kat and proclaimed "Who the heck do you think I am!?"

"Thanks for the pep talk, Lieutenant," Lio thanked her. "Thanks for talking some sense into me! You're right! I am stronger than this stupid ride! I'm going to conquer my fears and prove once and for all that Lio Loud stands triumphant over all who oppose him! On this day, the arrow sides with me!"

"Now there's the Lio that I know," Kat cheered him on as the two walked towards the Tower of Terror. "We're going to crush this like the insignificant ant that it is!"

"Heck yeah!" Lio said as the two walked through the front gates of the "hotel", where thunder and lightning effects added to the creepy atmosphere.

There was a crash of thunder and lightning that caused the power to suddenly go out, all except for a television set, which crackled to life and played the familiar Twilight Zone opening sequence.

"You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension. A dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and imagination. You've just crossed over to... The Twilight Zone."

"I'm curious, have you ever actually seen the Twilight Zone?" Kat asked Lio.

"I've seen a few episodes," Lio said. "Mostly watching reruns with Lucy whenever we had nothing else to watch and she needed inspiration for her short stories."

"Ahhh, interesting," Kat said, nodding her head. "I've never actually seen the show, but my grandma tells me that she used to watch it with her sisters after school when she was a girl."

_"Hollywood, 1939. Amid the glitz and the glitter of a bustling movie town at the height of its golden age, the Hollywood Tower Hotel was a star in its own right, a beacon for the show business elite. Now, something is about to happen that will change all that."_ The TV narration continued to play in the background as Kat and Lio continued to talk.

"Are you still nervous?" Kat asked.

"A little bit, yeah," Lio answered truthfully. "But I'm not backing down right now! I'm in this to win it and I'll be darned if I let anything get in my way!"

"I thought you might say something like that," Kat smiled.

_"The time is now, on an evening very much like the one we have just witnessed. Tonight's story of The Twilight Zone is somewhat unique and calls for a different kind of introduction. This as you may recognize is a maintenance service elevator, still in operation, waiting for you. We invite you if you dare to step aboard because in tonight's episode, you are the star, and this elevator travels directly to...the Twilight Zone."_

"This is it, time for our date with destiny," Lio said as they, along with the other guests were directed through the boiler room to wait for the elevator.

Once said "elevator" arrived, Lio and Kat got on and took their seats, being strapped in. The narration resumed as the elevator slowly started to rise.

_"You are the passengers on a most uncommon elevator about to ascend into your very own episode of The Twilight Zone."_

The first few drops were of little concern to Lio as he braved them with ease. However, when the ride reached its infamous fifth dimension and the final narration began, that's when Lio knew this was where he either prevailed and overcame his former self or exited the ride with a renewed sense of failure. He had an intense and determined gaze on his face, the look of a kid who was determined not to lose at a game. Any concerns Lio had melted away when Kat grabbed his hand and held it tenderly, her way of returning the favor from Universal where Lio held her hand when they got on the roller coaster.

"No matter what happens, just know that I'm here for you," Kat assured him, smiling at him.

"Thanks Kat, you're the best Lieutenant I could ask for," Lio thanked her, returning her smile.

"You are about to discover what lies beyond the fifth dimension, beyond the deepest, darkest corner of the imagination, in the Tower of Terror."

On the last word, the elevator began its drop, sending the passengers plummeting down below. As to be expected, everyone let out a scream, Lio and Kat being no exception. In fact, Lio actually screamed louder when the doors opened to reveal a view of the park from over 13 stories in the air. When the elevator came to a halt at the bottom, both Lio and Kat had crazy expressions on their faces, with Lio's hair having been blown astray until it resembled Lincoln's usual hairdo. Had her hair not been tied in a braid, Kat's hair would've likely looked even crazier.

"So, you didn't pass out," Kat said to Lio as the two of them exited the ride through the gift shop, "and it doesn't look like you wet your pants…"

"Nope!" Lio said, taking a moment to examine himself to make absolutely sure he'd come out of the experience unscathed.

"See, I told you that you had nothing to fear," Kat told him.

"And I'm sorry I ever doubted you," Lio said, giving Kat a hug. "This triumph proves that fate was meant to side with I, Lio Loud, all this time!"

"Wow, you can be such a geek sometimes," Kat giggled.

"Oh shut up, you can be even geekier than me sometimes," Lio laughed.

"Like when?" Kat asked.

"Remember when Konosuba got a movie announced," Lio reminded her with a smirk.

"I can't help it if I get a little excited over precious things like that!" Kat defended herself as her cheeks blushed red.

"You were so excited that you talked about it nonstop for a week," Lio said. "Even the new chapter of Vinland Saga didn't catch your attention."

"I know, I know, but can you really blame me?" Kat asked. "That movie was _sooooo_ good!"

"Yeah, it really was," Lio agreed.

"So now that we've done that, what do you wanna do?" Kat asked.

"I don't know about you, but I have a serious sweet tooth right now," Lio said before asking Kat "Wanna go get some cotton candy?"

"That sounds lovely," Kat said, walking arm in arm alongside Lio.

"You know, we really aren't doing a good job of convincing people we aren't a couple," Lio said.

"Who cares what they think?" Kat asked. "As long as I'm having a good time with you, I'll just take the Slim Shady approach. In other words, I don't give a-, well you know the rest."

"Let me guess, Lisa showed you her playlist," Lio giggled.

"Actually, it was your sister Leni," Kat said.

"Hmm, didn't think she was the type to be into Eminem," Lio mused.

"How do you know about Eminem?" Kat asked.

"I got commissioned to draw a fan made stand called 「_The Real Slim Shady_」," Lio said. "But enough about music, let's get that cotton candy"

"I couldn't agree more," Kat said.

When the time came to leave Hollywood, you can be sure that the entire gang had a great time and the best was still yet to come.

**Day 6**

"So tell me again exactly why we're checking out this place's arcade when you brought your Nintendo Switch with you?" Ronnie Anne asked as she and Lincoln sneaked down to the Game Point Arcade.

"Because…" Lincoln said. "We can't just stay cooped up in our room playing Mario Kart, Smash and Zelda all day. If I wanted to do that, I could've just stayed at home."

"Is that the real reason?" Ronnie Anne asked, teasing Lincoln by asking "Or did you just wanna come down here so you can try and get your win back in Street Fighter after I whooped you all way back?"

"That win doesn't count!" Lincoln yelled. "You were cheap to use Akuma and you know it!"

"Dude, you were using Bison and you still lost," Ronnie Anne pointed out. "Bison's way cheaper than Akuma. You have no excuse!"

"I would've won if you didn't spam the Shun Goku Satsu," Lincoln argued.

"Oh please, talk to the hand lame-o!" Ronnie Anne said, holding up her hand. "But that's neither here nor there, what's the real reason you brought me here?"

"Well, I thought that we could let our competitive sides get the better of us and play a few rounds of games here," Lincoln proposed. "Without being bothered by our friends, you know?"

"You mean you wanna go back to the days when it was just the two of us going one on one against each other?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Yeah," Lincoln nodded. "Like, no offense to my sisters or my brother or Sid or Chris, but we've barely had time to catch up with each other by ourselves… outside that talk we had at Epcot."

"Yeah…" Ronnie Anne said. "I guess you could say that this is an unofficial date, huh?"

"Let's hope it goes better than our last date," Lincoln said.

"Speaking of which, do the kids back at Royal Woods still give you crap about that?" Ronnie Anne asked. "About you and I, I mean?"

"Aside from Lio and Clyde, not really," Lincoln said. "And even those two only do it out of love."

"Good," Ronnie Anne said, "because if anyone is giving you any trouble, it's no problem for me to pop up in Royal Woods and teach them a little lesson."

"That won't be necessary," Lincoln laughed. "No one thinks of messing with the Lincolnator anymore… well, except for Chandler but then again-,"

"Hold on," Ronnie Anne said. "First of all, Lincolnator? Really?"

"It's a work in progress," Lincoln shrugged. "I'm sure I'll figure something out."

"Yeah, keep looking for a cool nickname because let me tell you that that's not it," Ronnie Anne said. "Secondly, Chandler's been giving you problems? That elitist spoiled snob?"

"Please don't," Lincoln pleaded with her not to intervene. "It's hard enough keeping my brother from trying to fight him and yeah, I know Chandler can be a little snobby, but he's not such a bad guy. Most of the time… he's getting better."

"Your brother? Tried fighting Chandler?" Ronnie Anne asked in disbelief.

"Multiple times actually," Lincoln told her.

"The same nerd who hides from anyone he doesn't know?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Remember how he confronted you when he thought you were bullying me?" Lincoln asked.

"Oh yeah," Ronnie Anne said. "Tell him I'm sorry for shoving his face into the ground."

"Yeah…" Lincoln said. "Any time Chandler calls me names or makes fun of me or makes fun of our sisters, I have to stop Lio from going mental on him."

"Didn't think he had it in him," Ronnie Anne said. "So what game do wanna play first?"

"It's your choice," Lincoln said. "After all, it's like they say, ladies first, and I'm nothing if not chivalrous."

"Aww, such a gentleman," Ronnie Anne said as she took a look around the arcade to see which game to play. "How about… that one?" She asked, pointing at a racing simulator.

"Hey, if that's your choice, I have no issue lapping you a few times," Lincoln said as he and Ronnie Anne climbed into the "karts".

One swipe of their arcade card later and they were off to the races, speeding side by side next to each other and driving circles around the game's track. Just as Lincoln predicted, the two friends let their competitive sides get the better of them, crashing their in game cars into each other in an attempt to gain the lead over one another.

"Oh no you don't!" Ronnie Anne said as she dodged a sideswipe attempt by Lincoln. "You are not going to cheat me like Kat did a few days ago!"

"Hey, you do what you've gotta do to win," Lincoln shrugged as he pulled off a tight drift. Having played too much Mario Kart, he tried to boost out of said drift, something that only slowed him down and allowed Ronnie Anne to pull ahead.

"What are you doing, lame-o?" Ronnie Anne taunted. "This isn't Mario Kart, this is real life!"

"Well, about as real as a racing simulator can get anyway," Lincoln quipped.

"Tell me Linc, how does it feel having to eat my dust," Ronnie Anne taunted.

"I don't know," Lincoln said before driving his car into the tail end of Ronnie Anne's and then driving around her to retake the lead. "You tell me!"

"Starting to get a little tired of your dirty tricks," Ronnie Anne said.

"Hey, you'd do the same thing to me if you had the chance," Lincoln argued.

"That's besides the point," Ronnie Anne retorted.

"So you're admitting that you were willing to play dirty?" Lincoln asked.

"A wise man once said: if you're not cheating, you're not trying," Ronnie Anne replied as she pulled up beside Lincoln and rammed into him, causing him to spin out briefly.

"Okay, I see what kind of game we're playing," Lincoln said.

"You started it," Ronnie Anne reminded him.

"Yeah, but you're supposed to be better than me," Lincoln retorted. "Or at least, you're supposed to be the bigger person."

"Sorry Linc, but I play to win!" Ronnie Anne told him as he tried to return the favor by causing her to spin out. Keyword being "tried" as Ronnie Anne dodged.

"So do I!" Lincoln said as he made one last attempt to even the score, ramming high speed into Ronnie Anne's car. This time he succeeded at the cost of causing both their vehicles to crash and go up in a fiery explosion, ending their game in a draw.

"Way to go, lame-o," Ronnie Anne said. "Now neither of us win."

"I will sooner end the game in a draw than walk away with a loss," Lincoln said triumphantly.

"First that game of Smash at Chris' house and now this!?" Ronnie Anne said before she sighed and shook her head. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at this point that you'd take the easy way out."

"It's called pragmatism," Lincoln defended his actions.

"Okay, since you're such a fan of pragmatism, why don't we play a game where you can't take the cheap way out when you're losing," Ronnie Anne said, pointing to an arcade cabinet of Street Fighter II. "Wanna get a shot at redeeming yourself?"

"I'll take you up on your challenge, but only on certain conditions…" Lincoln said. "First off, you can't use Akuma-,"

"That's fine, that means you can't use Bison," Ronnie Anne replied.

"Fine with me," Lincoln said. "Secondly, we play 3 matches with the best 2 of 3 determining the true winner."

"Okay, sounds good to me," Ronnie Anne said as she and Lincoln made their way over to the arcade cabinet and selected their characters. "You know what? I'll go easy on you and pick Chun Li."

"I'll pick Guile," Lincoln said. "His theme goes with everything."

"I don't wanna hear any excuses after I beat you," Ronnie Anne said.

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing to you," Lincoln told her.

"Round 1, fight!" The game was announced.

No sooner than the fight began, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne began tearing into each other. Being the Street Fighter veteran that he was, Lincoln immediately went on the offensive, looking to punish Ronnie Anne with devastating strikes and combo attacks. Ronnie Anne, no slouch in Street Fighter herself, played rather defensively, blocking most of Lincoln's attack and striking when the latter left himself open. It was a contest of raw power and hard hitting attacks vs technical defense and strategy. This approach had pros and cons for each player such as allowing Lincoln to take out chunks of Ronnie Anne's health whenever his attacks did land, but also leaving him susceptible to more stealthy attacks from Ronnie Anne that while not too damaging, still slowly chipped away at his own health bar.

In the end, Ronnie Anne's strategy won out as she ended the first round with a victory after having just barely survived Lincoln's assault and utilizing a quick grab to defeat his fighter. Lincoln thought nothing of it and decided to switch up his strategy going into the second round. Rather than attempt to spam combo attacks, Lincoln went for more grab moves instead. Once again, Ronnie Anne had him scouted and countered with vicious strikes that slowly whittled away at Lincoln's health bar. While Lincoln attempted to make a comeback, this round firmly belonged to Ronnie Anne, who won the second round and the first match decisively.

"Looks like the first point goes to me," Ronnie Anne celebrated, doing a little victory dance as she did so.

"Don't get cocky," Lincoln said. "We both know that I let you win."

"I thought you said that you weren't going to give any excuses," Ronnie Anne called him out.

"That wasn't an excuse," Lincoln said. "That was the honest to god truth."

"Is that so?" Ronnie Anne asked. "Well if you're so bold, what do you say we jump into the second match so that you can prove it?"

"It would be my pleasure," Lincoln said as the two of them began their second match.

Lincoln proved that he wasn't all talk by immediately taking a more aggressive approach in his fighting style. Utilizing a variety of strikes, combos and grabs, Guile battered Chun Li. That's not to say the round was completely one-sided however as Ronnie Anne managed to get in several good hits. In the end however, it wasn't enough to turn away a determined Lincoln, whose blistering offense overwhelmed Ronnie Anne and quickly defeated her. Ronnie Anne wanted to end this three match game quickly with a win, wanting to defeat Lincoln before they even needed a third match. That would make for such a sweet victory. In order for that to happen however, she'd need to defeat Lincoln back to back in these next two rounds.

That… did not happen. Not in the slightest. Lincoln had truly come to play this time around and when the second round began, Lincoln didn't even give Ronnie Anne a chance to react before he began thrashing her with savage attacks. Ronnie Anne's defensive strategy did her no favors this time around as Lincoln found a way to break through her defenses. Ronnie Anne struggled and flustered as she tried fighting back, but Lincoln's blitzing strategy allowed him to avoid every counterattack. Too taken aback to effectively defend herself, Ronnie Anne was quickly defeated while Lincoln achieved a rare perfect victory. Ronnie Anne stood with her mouth agape at what had just happened while Lincoln couldn't help but brag.

"Score one for the boys back home!" Lincoln celebrated, doing his own little victory dance before gloating "Still think that I was just all talk? Like I said, I was going easy on you."

"Lincoln you jerk!" Ronnie Anne said, playfully punching Lincoln in his shoulder.

"Didn't expect you to be this big of a sore loser," Lincoln said, still keeping that smug smirk on his face.

"This isn't about the game!" Ronnie Anne said. "Well it is, but it's not because you beat me!"

"Then what is it about?" Lincoln asked.

"You're telling me that you were holding back this entire time!?" Ronnie Anne asked. "Am I a friggin joke to you?"

"Don't you think you're taking this just a little too far?" Lincoln asked.

"Lincoln, if you're going to play against me, I ask that you give me everything you've got!" Ronnie Anne said. "Don't insult me by "going easy on me". I'd rather take 1000 losses than get a single win out of pity."

"Okay, lesson learned," Lincoln said. "I'll give you 110%." He then smirked and added "Just don't complain when I mop the floor with you."

Ronnie Anne smirked back and said "If I lose to you, lame-o, then I deserve all the taunting and gloating you've got in you."

"Let's fight!" Lincoln and Ronnie Anne said as the Street Fighter announced "Round 1, Fight!"

This time around, Ronnie Anne discarded her previous defensive approach and came out swinging, catching Lincoln off guard with a flurry of strikes and kicks. Lincoln quickly recovered and mounted a comeback, battering Ronnie Anne with vicious grabs and combinations. Ronnie Anne used her anger towards Lincoln's slight against her to her advantage by coming at the latter with everything she had. That's not to say that Lincoln didn't hold his own, of course, fighting back whenever he got the chance. In the end however, Ronnie Anne proved more determined and defeated Lincoln while still having a good chunk of health.

"I think it's time to dispose of you once and for all," Ronnie Anne said as she and Lincoln waited for the second round to begin.

"Careful, Pride goes before a fall," Lincoln reminded her.

"You'd be good to remember your own advice," Ronnie Anne said before the round began.

Just like the previous round, Ronnie Anne came out swinging, going directly on the offensive. The difference this time is that Lincoln saw it coming and caught Ronnie Anne in a brutalizing grab move that left her stunned and unable to attack for several seconds. During those few vital seconds, Lincoln administered vicious punches and kicks, draining Ronnie Anne's health bar in half. Once she recovered however, Ronnie Anne proved to be quite pragmatic, fighting back and backing Lincoln into a corner, where she juggled him in the air for several seconds. Lincoln managed to get out of the trap and used a combo to take Ronnie Anne down. The two took a moment to block simultaneously, each expecting the other to unleash some sort of attack. When it never came however, the two were left staring at each other, neither daring to make the first move in fear of opening themselves up. After a few seconds, Lincoln was the one who finally dared to move, faking a kick in order to bait Ronnie Anne into attacking him. Once he sidestepped out of the way, Lincoln grabbed Ronnie Anne and utilized Guile's ultimate to take Ronnie Anne down to her last slither of health. Ronnie Anne played cautiously, but in the end was dealt a defeat via a meager low kick.

"And so it's all come down to this," Lincoln said as the two of them prepared for the final round.

"This is the round that'll determine all the marbles," Ronnie Anne said. "Who will walk away a grand champion?"

"Spoiler alert, it's going to be me," Lincoln said confidently.

"No, you're going to be taking the long walk of shame," Ronnie Anne said. "I've come too far to lose to you."

"Care to put your money where your mouth is?" Lincoln teased with a grin.

"I'd be delighted to," Ronnie Anne replied.

"Final Round… fight!" The announcer said.

Unlike their previous rounds and matches, this one didn't start off with Lincoln and Ronnie Anne going right after each other right away. Instead the two exchanged a stare down and gave each other a sportsman like handshake while agreeing not to let the final result come between them. Once the pleasantries were exchanged, the final fight commenced and neither Lincoln or Ronnie Anne held anything back. Rather than play cautiously as they had been doing before, the two simply tried beating the crap out of each other.

Lincoln returned a favor from the previous round by forcing Ronnie Anne into a corner and juggling her in the air through various kicks and strikes. Ronnie Anne quickly got out of it and retaliated, hammering Lincoln with swift kicks and grabs while sprinkling in combos here and there. Neither of them wanted to lose this round and it showed in just how aggressive their playstyles became. In a matter of time, both of their health bars had been drained until there was only a sliver of health remaining for both of them. Whoever won this game was going to rightfully deserve the victory after how hard they'd worked for it. After a few minutes of jumping around, blocking each other's attacks and going for failed attacks of their own, Ronnie Anne eked out the victory via a single kick.

"Yes! I won!" Ronnie Anne celebrated before wiping sweat from her brow. "I'll give you credit where credit is due though, you sure didn't make it easy for me."

"Thanks," Lincoln said, he and Ronnie exchanging another handshake. "I must say that gave me quite the challenge yourself."

"You've gotten better since the last time we've played," Ronnie Anne told him.

"Yep," Lincoln said confidently. "Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?"

"You were always more of a rabbit to me, but okay," Ronnie Anne said, smiling at Lincoln and saying "I'm proud to have witnessed your growth. It's great to have finally found a worthy opponent and no longer have to settle for repeatedly beating my brother and cousins with ease."

"I can say the same about you," Lincoln said.

"Who knows? Maybe one day you'll grow good enough to actually be able to beat me," Ronnie Anne said. "But for right now, assume the position and bow on your knees towards your Queen."

"I was complimenting you and then you tell me to kneel" Lincoln laughed. "Way to ruin the moment."

"Ah ah ah, I don't see any kneeling," Ronnie Anne playfully admonished him.

"If it'll make you happy, then I'll bow before you so that you can feel good about yourself…" Lincoln said, dropping to his knees and bowing before Ronnie Anne similar to how a knight would kneel before his majesty.

"There you guys are!" Lana said, storming into the arcade and surprising Lincoln and Ronnie Anne. "I've been looking for you for the past twenty min- what're you doing?"

"Nothing!" Ronnie Anne and Lincoln said quickly with Lincoln quickly getting to his feet and asking "Why were you looking for us?"

"Because, a few of us were going to head over to the pool and I wanted to know if you two were going to tag along," Lana explained.

"Oh," Lincoln said with Ronnie Anne answering for the two of them as she wrapped an arm around Lincoln and told Lana "Thanks, but Lincoln and I are going to chill here at the arcade for a few hours, right lame-o?"

"Yeah, that's right," Lincoln said. "Gotta teach Ronnie Anne a few tricks for some of these old school games."

"Pfft, it's more like I was teaching you new tricks," Ronnie Anne scoffed.

"You two are seriously strange," Lana said. "Although that does possibly explain why Lincoln was down on his knees in front of yo-,"

"I'll give you 5 dollars if you promise not to tell anyone what you saw!" Lincoln offered.

"Uh…" Lana said.

"What if we make it 10?" Ronnie Anne offered, holding out an additional 5 dollar bill.

"Deal!" Lana said, happily accepting the money. "I was just going to tell them you guys were playing video games, but if you guys wanna give me money to keep quiet, be my guest!"

With that, Lana ran off, leaving Lincoln and Ronnie Anne to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Okay, we've really gotta start being careful about how we interact with each other," Lincoln said.

"Do you think she'll keep her word?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Lana's pretty trustworthy," Lincoln said. "I doubt she even knows what she saw in the first place."

"That's a relief," Ronnie Anne said. "Now then, back to where we were before: wanna play some more games?"

"You know I'm always ready to play games," Lincoln said. "Since you won our last game, I'll let you pick the next one…"

"How cute to think you even had a choice," Ronnie Anne taunted. "Let's see how you fare in Galaga since you're so bad…"

"Watch me beat the high score with ease," Lincoln said as he stepped up to the arcade machine.

Meanwhile, just outside the arcade, in the food court.

"They were together again, weren't they?" Lola asked Lana.

"Yep," Lana said. "Just playing some video games is all, nothing major."

"Is that all they were doing?" Lola asked.

"I would tell you more, but I've been "persuaded" to keep quiet on such matters therefore the information you seek is classified," Lana said.

"How much did they pay you?" Lola asked.

"That's also classified," Lana answered.

Lola sighed and said "Whatever. Either way, I'm almost 100% certain they're going to get together by Christmas."

"Oh, no doubt about that," Lana nodded her head in agreement.

**Day 7**

Today was the day that the gang visited the park that Lana had been most excited to visit. It was none other than Disney's Animal Kingdom, a theme park centered around wildlife conservation and showcasing the various animals that roamed the Earth. And while it was true that there weren't many high speed roller coasters or 4-D simulators or other such rides, there were still plenty of attractions that would make for a joyous evening. With the exotic animals that were on display, one would have to either be an animal hater or actively trying to not have themselves a good time as they visited each locale. With five main areas of the park to explore, there was something for everybody to check out.

Everyone had their own display that they wanted to check out so a group split was practically inevitable. Dividing themselves up, the gang agreed to meet back up in the central hub area before setting off to explore the park.

Now one would stereotypically expect a couple of weebs to visit the section of the park designated as "Asia" first, right? Well for Lio and Kat, that was true, but not for the reasons that one would expect. While it was true that they were otakus (not "weebs", something they'd be quick to correct you on if you referred to them as such), that was only one facet of their personalities. Another facet of their personalities were their attraction towards the weird and exotic, something that was on full display here. Upon hearing that the Asia display had creatures such as bats, Sumatran tigers, and most impressively, Komodo dragons, the two knew that they just had to check it out.

"Do you really think they'll have Komodo dragons or do you think they're just trying to attract more visitors?" Kat asked Lio.

"Come on now, it's Disney," Lio said. "Disney is the most wholesome company on the planet, they'd never do something as immoral as lie to attract viewers…" Lio and Kat both shot the reader an aside glance at that statement before continuing on with their conversation.

"They better not be lying," Kat said. "Otherwise I'll sue them for false advertising!"

"Careful," Lio warned her. "Disney has top notch lawyers who'll have you sleeping in a cardboard box if you try messing with them."

"Disney and their lawyers hath no fury like a girl cheated out of seeing Komodo dragons," Kat declared confidently.

"Trust me, I believe you on that accord," Lio said. "Perhaps I should be giving Disney the warning about you instead of the other way around."

"It would only be fair that you let them know just what they're dealing with," Kat smiled.

"Of course, the Komodo dragons aren't the only things we're here to see," Lio said. "Geese, blackbucks, tigers, bats and over 50 different species of birds are other things worth looking at."

"I already know that you're excited to see the Sumatran tigers, aren't you?" Kat asked. "I mean, given your love of felines and everything, that is."

"Yeah," Lio said, joking "My love of felines is so strong that even my girlfri-, I mean lovebird-, I mean Lieutenant is named Kat. Heheh…"

The two of them chuckled at Lio's joke for a couple of seconds as they turned their backs to each other to hide their blushing faces.

_"Squeeeeeeeee! I can't believe I called her my girlfriend!"_ Lio thought to himself. _"Another Freudian slip; but on the bright side Kat didn't seem too upset by it and she accidentally called me her boyfriend earlier this week. Is it possible that she likes me too?"_

_"Squeeeeee! He called me his girlfriend!"_ Kat thought cheerfully to herself, doing her best to conceal the ear to ear smile on her face so that people didn't think she was crazy.

Upon getting themselves together, the two turned back to face each other.

"So… those flying foxes, are you looking forward to seeing those too?" Kat asked.

"You bet," Lio said with a smile. "I'm honestly surprised that Lucy didn't tag along with us. She loves bats and if she were to see one of these creatures, I'm sure she'd be ecstatic."

"I'd imagine so," Kat agreed.

"Is there anything else that you're interested in seeing?" Lio asked Kat.

"Maybe we can go see Africa after this," Kat suggested. "I wanna see the lions, hyenas, and cheetahs up close on a safari."

"I guess we're taking a trip to where the wild things are!" Lio joked, chuckling and asking "Get it?"

Rather than groan, Kat went along with Lio's sense of humor and answered back with a joke of her own "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that your sense of humor can't be tamed."

"Nice one!" Lio said, giving Kat a high five.

As they walked through the fictional kingdom of Anandapur, Lio and Kat spotted the Expedition Everest: Legend of the Forbidden Mountain roller coaster ride nearby. The two took a minute to stop at look up at the steel roller coaster as it carried a group of passengers through a mountain.

"What do you say we get on that baby when we're done checking out the Komodo dragons and stuff?" Kat asked.

"But I thought you said you wanted to visit the Africa area of the park after this," Lio reminded her.

"Oh please, we'll have plenty of time to do that," Kat reassured him. "Don't be such a stick in the mud." She giggled and said "Listen, if this is about last time, I promise that I won't throw up on you again."

"Well to be fair, I did get to show off my good looks while wearing your jacket when you did throw up on me," Lio pointed out with a coy grin. "You're right though, we have plenty of time left in the day after seeing the exhibit and if my Lieutenant wants to get on that ride, we're getting on that ride!"

"Thanks Colonel," Kat said. "You can be such a sweetheart sometimes."

"I'm only doing what a good companion would do in any situation," Lio told her before the two of them came across their first exhibit, which showcased a couple of blackbucks. The antelope didn't make much movement aside from wandering around their enclosure. Lio noticed that Kat seemed a little upset, causing him to ask her "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Kat said. "It's just that these elks don't seem very happy being here, you know?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Lio said, noticing that the blackbucks were rather slow moving and didn't seem very engaged. "Still, it's possible that they've been raised here since birth."

"That's even worse," Kat said. "Animals like them need to be set free to roam in an open atmosphere! They need to be returned to the home from whence they came!"

Picking up on Kat's subtle behaviors, Lio smirked evilly at her and asked "What are you proposing, my delightfully evil genius lieutenant?"

Kat returned his evil smirk and remarked "Man, it seems that I'm starting to rub off on you more than I thought. Are you really willing to go along with whatever plan I have in mind?"

"It wouldn't be the first time I dabbled in something a little immoral," Lio admitted to her.

"So in that case, you'd be willing to help me bust these animals out of their prisons and send them back to their home countries?" Kat asked.

"Just tell me what you need me to do and I'll follow your lead," Lio said.

"Whoa, calm down, I'm just kidding," Kat laughed. "It's nice to know you'd be willing to help me, but we'd be so in over our heads if we tried springing these furry fellas!"

"I'm well aware of that," Lio said. "But if I'm willing to go along with some of Lincoln's and Clyde's more zany schemes and even assist Luan in her April Fools schemes, then I'd have no problems lending you a hand in whatever plans you may have in mind."

"Well, I for one am glad to hear that I have a loyal and willing partner in crime," Kat smiled at him. "But seriously though, those blackbucks look seriously depressed."

"Maybe it would be best if we moved on and looked at some of the other animals," Lio suggested, moving along.

"Yeah, maybe," Kat said, following behind Lio.

A few minutes later, the two came across the Sumatran tigers they'd referenced earlier. Seeing the animals up close and personal, both were blown away. Neither of them ever thought they'd get to see such a wild animal up close and personal.

"Be careful not to look them in the eye, Lieutenant," Lio advised Kat. "Sumatran tigers, similar to many other animals in the wild, take direct eye contact as a challenge and can have a hostile reaction."

"Thanks for the warning," Kat said. "As chaotic as I may be, I'm not willing to pick a fight with an animal that could easily tear me apart… even if we are protected by a barrier, heheh."

"I can't blame you for being apprehensive," Lio told her, joking "That's one Katfight I just can't see you winning!"

"Bold of you to assume I'd stick around long enough for the tiger to even catch me," Kat said, telling Lio "You're not the only one who's perfected the Joestar family secret technique."

"You wouldn't just throw me to the tigers so that you could get away?" Lio suggested.

"What? Heck no!" Kat said. "In fact, I take back what I said about not being willing to fight a tiger. If it came after you, I'd go full Doppo Orochi and square up with the feline beast."

"Please go easy on the thing," Lio laughed. "It doesn't mean any harm."

"Yeah, but it messed with my friend," Kat said. "Therefore it would have to be dealt with. Don't worry, I wouldn't hurt it. I'd just shoo it away."

"So you're willing to fight a tiger for me?" Lio asked.

"Hey, you're willing to commit illegal activities for me so you're just as crazy as I am," Kat pointed out.

"Touché," Lio shrugged.

The two then heard someone mocking the captive tigers, blowing raspberries and making faces at the animals. Lio and Kat turned their heads to see two grown men teasing the tigers, making obnoxious noises to the point of borderline screaming at them. Needless to say, both Lio and Kat were disgusted by the men's immature display.

"Can you believe the nerve of those guys?" Kat scoffed.

"I know right," Lio said, clenching his fist in anger. "Taking pleasure in poking fun at an animal in captivity that could rip their faces off in the time it took them to blink. Do they think these tigers take pleasure in being confined to this space all day and all night? Bad enough they're trapped, but now they have to deal with these jokers! I swear I'd-,"

"Are you okay?" Kat asked, interrupting his ranting.

"What?" Lio said before shaking his head. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry about that. I just get a little riled up when I see people mistreating animals."

"What if it was a dolphin that they were taunting?" Kat asked.

"If that we're the case, I'd be praying for those poor souls," Lio answered quickly.

"Don't look now, but I think karma may be about to catch up to those jerks," Kat said, pointing to the two immature men, who were shaking their rump at the tigers, unaware that one of them was slowly approaching the barrier.

The two men turned around just in time to hear a monstrous roar as the tiger "pounced" at them. That was all it took to make the two turn tail and run for their lives, despite being protected by a barrier. Lio and Kat couldn't help but laugh their heads off at that display.

"Good Girl," Lio said to the tiger as she rejoined the other tigers. "Okay, that more than made up for those two goofs!"

"Just goes to show you that what goes around comes around," Kat said.

"I really wish that I could give that tiger a treat," Lio said as he and Kat moved on.

"I'm sure she would appreciate it," Kat told him.

The next exhibit the friends came across was the one showcasing the Large flying foxes, the aforementioned bats they'd been talking about before. While they had been expecting the creatures to be big, the two were still taken aback by the bats' size.

"Holy cow, these things are huge!" Kat exclaimed, pointing at one of the bats which hung from a tree. "They're probably not even regular bats, they're just sleeping during the day until the sun goes down and they can revert to their true form."

"I can now say without a doubt that Lucy would've loved to see these guys up close and personal," Lio said.

"That's why I'm already here," Lucy said, startling both Lio and Kat.

"But what the? You were nowhere to be? How did-?" Lio asked, looking around frantically trying to figure out where Lucy had come from.

"In all the time that I've known your family, I still haven't gotten used to your sister's jump scares," Kat commented, just as confused as to how Lucy had suddenly appeared before them.

"I've been living with her since she was a baby and _**I**_ still haven't gotten used to it," Lio said before asking Lucy "Where did you come from?"

"I read about the bats on one of the flyers and just knew that I had to see them for myself," Lucy said in her usual monotone. "So I thought that I'd sneak over here to take a quick look." Lucy gazed at the huge bats as one of them yawned while hanging upside down from a branch. "Or maybe a not so quick look."

"I take it you're impressed by these guys?" Kat asked.

"You bet," Lucy replied. "My pet bat isn't nearly as big. In fact, I don't think it'll ever grow as big as those bats. Sigh. I wish I could just take one of those bats home with me to keep."

"Well, Lio and I were talking about staging a prison break for some of these animals," Kat said with a smile. "We could always keep a few of the animals we free for ourselves."

"Really?" Lucy asked.

"If it makes my little sister happy, then yeah," Lio said. "All we need to do is come up with a plan."

"We could have Lucy use her teleportation powers to warp inside the enclosure, nab one of the bats and then teleport out," Kat suggested.

"It's not teleportation," Lucy said quickly.

"Then how do you move so stealthily and sneak up on people?" Lio asked.

"That's a secret for me to know and you to spend days and nights agonizing and pondering about," Lucy answered.

"Fair enough," Lio said with a shrug.

"By the way, are you two officially dating now?" Lucy asked.

"No…" Lio and Kat answered simultaneously with Kat asking "Why do you ask?"

"Because I heard my brother call you his girlfriend," Lucy said, causing Lio and Kat to seize up and blush upon realizing someone had heard them. "And then when he tried to correct himself, he called you his lovebird by accident."

"That was-," Kat tried to think of an excuse before Lio filled in for her. "That was just a slip of the tongue."

If Lucy's eyes were visible, Lio would be able to see that she was giving him a "Really? Is that the road you're going to go down?" look.

"Yeah, a slip of the tongue," Kat said. "Everyone else calls us lovebirds to the point we slip up and call ourselves that sometimes."

Lio and Kat both offered up fake looking smiles that Lucy didn't buy at all.

"Didn't you call my brother your boyfriend during a game of Mario Kart a few days ago?" Lucy reminded Kat. "Was that an accident too?"

"Listen Lucy, how much will it take for you to keep quiet about what you saw/heard?" Lio asked.

"At least 10," Lucy said.

"Here you go," Lio said, handing Lucy the money. "Now you have to promise that you'll keep this just between the three of us."

"Don't worry, I will," Lucy said. If they looked closely, both Lio and Kat could've sworn they saw a little smirk tugging at Lucy's lips. "I'll also keep quiet about how you said that you'd fight off a tiger for my brother."

"Just how much stuff did you hear?" Kat asked.

"I heard enough," Lucy said and despite her monotone voice, Lio and Kat could tell that she was teasing them. "You know, frankly I'm starting to believe that you two are more than just friends."

"And frankly I'm starting to reconsider helping you take home one of these bats," Lio whispered under his breath.

Meanwhile, in the group chat, Lucy was texting the others.

The Silent: Deleting this message in 30 seconds, but there's no doubt in my mind, anyone who's a part of that bet is going to win big time.

"Who're you texting?" Lio asked, trying to peer over Lucy's shoulder to see her phone.

"No one," Lucy said quickly before the bats began spreading their wings and flying around a little bit.

Lucy, Lio, and Kat all turned around in time to get a glimpse at the Large flying foxes frantically flying around for a few minutes and even letting out a few hisses before settling back on their tree branches.

"Wooooooooow!" Lucy, Lio, and Kat all said in unison.

"I am so glad that I got a chance to see that in person," Lucy said with Lio and Kat replying "Same."

"I don't think we're going to see anything else out of these guys so maybe it'd be best to move on," Lio said.

"Looking forward to seeing the Komodo dragons?" Kat asked, prompting Lio to excitedly nod his head.

"That's the main reason we came here, remember?" Lio reminded her before saying to Lucy "Come on Luc, since you're here, it's my responsibility to look after you."

"Sigh, coming," Lucy said, following behind the two.

"And if you could, please don't sneak up behind us and scare us," Lio requested.

"I'll do my best," Lucy said as she went back into the group chat and deleted the message.

While Lio, Kat, and Lucy were exploring the exotic species of Asia, Chris and Lynn were roaming around through the Africa hub area. The lions, hyenas, and cheetahs that Lio and Kat had talked about were the main attraction for Lynn, along with Rhinos and hippos. At the moment, Chris was trying to talk Lynn out of trying to get in a foot race with a cheetah.

"Ahh, come on Chris, where's that sense of adventure you talked about having?" Lynn asked.

"I'm all for a little adventure, but maybe trying to flex on the fastest land mammal isn't such a good idea," Chris said.

"You act like I'm going to jump in the enclosure and try to outrun the thing," Lynn said. "I'm just gonna see how much faster I can move than it!"

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Chris asked.

"Simple," Lynn said. "I'm going to scare the life out of it!"

"Still, maybe you should reconsider," Chris suggested. "I think taunting the animals could get us a warning at best and banned from the park at worst."

"Oh, come on, have I ever steered you wrong?" Lynn asked.

"A few times, yes," Chris answered truthfully.

"Just trust me on this one, nothing is going to go wrong," Lynn said before she began calling out to the cheetah in question, trying to get its attention.

"Hey, you big spotted fur ball!" Lynn called out to the cat. "Yeah, that's right! I'm talking to you, you big pussy!"

"Lynn!" Chris admonished her.

"What? It's literally a big pussycat," Lynn pointed out. "I'm not saying anything wrong."

"I still don't think that this is a good idea," Chris said.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Lynn asked as she continued trying to incite the cheetah.

"The cheetah somehow breaks free, chases after the both of us and in a stunning plot twist, neither of us are fast enough to outrun it," Chris answered with a hint of sarcasm.

"That was a rhetorical question," Lynn said.

"And I gave you a rhetorical answer," Chris replied.

"Oh brother," Lynn sighed before she noticed the cheetah approaching her and Chris. "Hold on a minute, I think I might've actually got it's attention."

Despite knowing the dangers of doing so, Lynn looked the cheetah directly in the eyes and glared into its very soul, her way of silently challenging the animal to make a move. Rather than be intimidated however, the cheetah seemed rather amused by Lynn's efforts and instead continued approaching her and Chris. While Chris seemed cautious, Lynn showed no signs of fear and in fact continued to give the cheetah intense looks.

"Um, Lynn, maybe we should-," Chris suggested.

"Relax dorkface, I'm telling you, nothing is going to happen," Lynn insisted as the wildcat drew closer. Lynn didn't know how right she was as rather than come at the two teens to attack or scare them, the cheetah instead gently brushed its head against Lynn's chest and purred affectionately at her. "What the? I thought that this thing would either run away afraid or trying mauling me! Not… this!"

"I guess nothing can resist your floofiness," Chris commented, smirking at Lynn. "Also, I'm pretty sure this puts an end to the whole "cute" debate, am I right?"

"Darn it, I'm not cute!" Lynn insisted. "It's just like the old saying goes: real recognizes real. This big cat just bows that I'm the alpha female and is submitting to my dominance."

"Actually, the whole alpha concept is usually only found in canine species," Chris explained. "For felines, while they occasionally run in packs, their hierarchy is more family based than 'might makes right' as is commonly assumed. And even then, the concept of an alpha leader is only found in canines in captivity, being completely absent in wolves in the wild."

"So what you're saying is…?" Lynn replied.

"The cheetah finds you cute," Chris told her.

"Dang it!" Lynn cursed. "I mean sure, I'm good looking, but I'm not cute. Being cute is more Lola's thing."

"Who says it has to be exclusive to her?" Chris asked.

"True," Lynn said. "But I don't want people thinking I'm a weakling or something like that."

"You just got a cheetah to basically kneel before you and act like a tamed house cat, even after you tried ticking it off" Chris pointed out. "That doesn't make you a weakling, that makes you awesome!"

"Yeah, but I couldn't scare it into running so I can't be that awesome," Lynn said.

"To be fair, I'm pretty sure this cheetah has seen some horrors that pale in comparison to a 13 year old giving it death glares," Chris replied. "Besides, you're still the baddest girl on the planet to me."

"Thanks," Lynn said before grumbling and muttering "Still wish that I could've beaten the thing in a race or something"

Chris chuckled and said "While we're at it, why don't you grapple with a hippopotamus or try tackling a rhino. Heck, maybe you can even wrestle with crocodiles if you get the chance."

"Nah, been there, done that," Lynn brushed him off, prompting Chris to laugh, thinking that she was joking.

When he realized she was serious, Chris asked "Wait, you've seriously wrestled a crocodile?"

"Me and Lana both actually," Lynn revealed. "It was a trip to the zoo and someone had left the gate to the cage unlocked. I can't remember if we were dared to do it or if we did it on our own volition, but either way, we ended up grappling with some serious crocs. Poor things were whimpering in fear after we were done with them. And that's the story of how Lana and I got our family kicked out of the zoo."

"I love how I've known you for almost 10 years and I can still find out new things about you," Chris laughed.

"Trust me, with my family, there are loads of wild and crazy stories that I can tell you," Lynn said. "Stories that you wouldn't believe."

"So you've flown in a biplane, trained in ninjitsu, and wrestled with crocodiles? Is there anything you haven't done?" Chris asked. "What's next? Are you going to swim with sharks or pilot a submarine or snowboard down Mount Everest?"

"All sound like tempting options, but I think I'll go for something even greater," Lynn said, joking "Maybe I'll go skydiving while deactivating a nuclear bomb and fighting off a horde of zombies. All while Luna plays a rocking guitar solo in the background, a soundtrack to how awesome I am!"

"Quite ambitious, aren't we?" Chris asked.

"Hey, why stop at shooting for the stars, when you can aim to cross the galaxy?" Lynn replied.

"A clever analogy," Chris said. "Who knows, maybe one day we'll see you become president."

"Nah, I don't think so," Lynn said. "That job sounds way too boring! Just sitting in meetings all day, having to sign documents and stuff into law, having to fight the urge to jump down someone's throat when they tick you off. No thank you. Maybe you'd be better suited to run for President."

"I'm gonna have to decline," Chris said. "That job seems way too stressful for me to handle, although…"

"Although what?" Lynn asked.

"If I was president, I could make Lynn Loud day an officially recognized national holiday," Chris proposed.

"Yeah, but then you'd have to make every day National Lynn Loud Day," Lynn argued.

"You say that as if it's a bad thing," Chris said. "Come to think about it, I could hire your sister Leni to do interior design, hire Luna to write up a new national anthem, get Lincoln to act as press secretary, etc."

"No offense, but I don't think the country is ready for a Loud Family Monarchy," Lynn said.

Chris and Lynn suddenly heard high pitched laughing and turned to see a couple of spotted hyenas laughing hysterically.

"I think they disagree," Chris said, joking "From the sound of things, they're ready for a Loud Family Monarchy right now."

"They sound like they're laughing mad," Lynn laughed. "Would you really trust their opinion on anything?"

"Well, when it comes to me and you and the possibility of being the ultimate power couple, yeah, I do," Chris said before realizing he'd accidentally referred to he and Lynn as a couple. "Actually, what I meant by that is…"

"Don't worry, I get you," Lynn said. "Everyone's been calling us a couple for so long that it's kinda gotten etched into our brains."

"Yeah, yeah, that's right," Chris played along as the two of them watched the hyenas continue to laugh and play with each other.

"Did I ever tell you about the time Lana tried to take home a hyena from a New York zoo?" Lynn asked.

"I don't think you have," Chris said.

"Trust me, it was something to see," Lynn said. "Especially since she actually managed to get one of them out of its cage and came close to sneaking it out of the zoo by stuffing it in her shirt."

"So what went wrong?" Chris asked.

"The hyena's fur was rather ticklish and the hyena itself couldn't keep quiet," Lynn said. "We were almost at the exit when some guards caught us."

"Why do I get the feeling that you're tempted to try replicating Lana's attempted hyena-napping?" Chris asked.

"Don't get it twisted," Lynn said. "There's no way I'm going to try busting a whole hyena out of this place, especially not by stuffing it in my shirt."

"Yeah, I could see why that would be a problem," Chris said.

"Yeah, I am way too ticklish to take having a fury critter like that down my top without losing it," Lynn said.

"Is that so?" Chris asked before giving Lynn a light poke.

"Eep!" Lynn squeaked before warning Chris "Don't you dare."

"Don't I dare what?" Chris asked, giving Lynn a few more pokes.

"You hahaha know exactly Heheheh what!" Lynn said, trying to bat Chris' hands away.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Chris said as he pulled Lynn close to him and began tickling her.

"Chris! Hahahahaha! I-I-I'll hahahaha kill youhuhu for this hahahahahaha!" Lynn threatened, squirming and trying to get away as she tried in vain to keep from laughing. She was so glad that no one else was watching otherwise this would be so embarrassing.

"That seems a little harsh, don't you think?" Chris teased her.

"Youhuhu'll hahahahaha pahahahay for this sohoho hard hahahahahaha!" Lynn threatened through her laughs.

The hyenas began laughing again and with how hard Lynn was laughing, Chris honestly couldn't tell the difference. Well, that wasn't completely true. Despite her gruff exterior, Lynn's laugh sounded like a bubbly girlish giggle. It was honestly adorable and only added to Lynn's cuteness. Though then again, knowing Lynn, Chris could understand why she'd want to keep such a thing a secret from others. Finally, he stopped tickling her and took a step breath.

"You are so dead!" Lynn hissed before she began playfully punching Chris repeatedly. "That was so evil!"

"Ow! Alright, alright, I'm sorry," Chris laughed as he didn't even attempt to deflect Lynn's punches, not that he needed to, seeing as Lynn wasn't even trying to hurt him. "You can stop hitting me now."

"No!" Lynn said, still punching Chris.

"Oh come on, it was just a joke," Chris said.

"And it wasn't very funny," Lynn said as she finally relented in her "attack" on Chris. "You know that I hate being tickled. I can't stand it!"

"Well, I'm sorry," Chris apologized again. "I just couldn't resist the urge."

"Just don't do that again," Lynn told him before she tried playing it off. "Now, where were we?"

"I think we were going to check out the lions," Chris said. "You said something about wanting to see what the king of the jungle was like up close."

"Alright, then let's get going," Lynn said. "We've only got a few hours left before we have to head back to the hotel"

"I'm right behind you," Chris said.

"And this time try to keep to yourself," Lynn warned.

"Don't worry, I will," Chris assured her.

In another part of the park (DinoLand U.S.A to be specific), Lincoln, Ronnie, and Sid were looking with fascination at the fossils and displays. Well, Lincoln and Sid were impressed. Ronnie Anne seemed more bored than anything.

"Who's idea was it to come here again?" Ronnie Anne asked, seemingly irritated by having to be in this part of the park any longer.

"I think it was Sid's idea," Lincoln said.

"Ughh, how do I let her talk me into these situations?" Ronnie Anne groaned.

"What's wrong with you?" Sid asked. "You don't seem very happy to be here."

"Guys, don't take this the wrong way, but…" Ronnie Anne said, pausing momentarily before telling the two "I'm not really into dinosaurs."

"What?" was the simultaneous response from Lincoln and Sid.

"Yeah, I've always kinda found them boring," Ronnie Anne admitted, rubbing her arm awkwardly.

"Boring?" Sid asked. "How could you find dinosaurs boring!? They're practically prehistoric Titans!"

"I don't know what it is," Ronnie Anne said, "but dinosaurs never really appealed to me."

"So I take it you're not exactly having a good time being here?" Lincoln asked.

"No," Ronnie Anne answered. "This place is totally lame… like you."

"Lame!?" Lincoln retorted. "Woman, this park has the largest and most complete T. rex Fossil found to date and you have the audacity to call it lame!?"

"Sorry Lincoln, but I'm a woman of class," Ronnie Anne replied with a teasing grin. "It takes a lot more to impress me than some old bones and rocks."

"Yeah, usually it takes boys with white hair and buck teeth and blue eyes who wear orange and have 10 sisters to impress you," Sid commented.

"I walked right into that one, didn't I?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Made it all too easy," Sid laughed.

"Yeah, you really did," Lincoln agreed. "Although then again, can anyone really blame you for being impressed by me? I'm Lincoln Loud, I'm kind of a big deal."

"Shut up Dino-boy," Ronnie Anne said.

"Come on Ronnie, that's no way to talk to your lover," Sid teased.

"We are not lovers!" Ronnie Anne and Lincoln said in unison.

"You know, at this point, I'm pretty much only saying that to get a reaction out of you," Sid said. "I mean, I don't have to say it out loud, everyone already knows you two are madly in love."

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," Lincoln said.

"Neither am I," Ronnie Anne said. "You feel free to believe whatever you want to believe."

"Well I believe that you two are going to get married and have a lot of beautiful babies together," Sid joked, only to be surprised when Ronnie Anne and Lincoln stuck to their word and didn't even react, prompting her to say "Wow, way to take all the fun out of it."

"If it's the only way to get you to stop making those jokes, then so be it," Lincoln said.

"I'll never stop!" Sid declared with determination. "What are friends for if they don't tease you every once in a while so that you don't get too big of a head!"

"Yeah, but eventually the joke starts to get old," Ronnie Anne said. "Then it starts getting flat out annoying."

"You didn't seem to think that when you made fun of me for mistaking that cardboard cutout of Yoon Kwan for the real thing and tried tackling him to get a hair sample," Sid retorted. "You wouldn't let me live that down for weeks!"

"Because that was genuinely hilarious!" Ronnie Anne laughed.

"More like terrifying," Lincoln said. "I wasn't even there, but the thought of Sid being so obsessed with a singer that she'd try to cut their hair seems terrifying."

"Don't let the shoulder shimmy fool you," Sid said. "I can have a little edge to my personality when I need to." She winked at Ronnie Anne and nudged her, adding "Hint, hint."

"I am not convincing my mom to diagnose you with a fake illness that necessitates you traveling to South Korea to get treatment just so you can meet the real Yoon Kwan," Ronnie Anne told her.

"Aww man, you are seriously no fun!" Sid huffed.

"Honestly with the chemistry between you and Sid, maybe it's you two who should hook up," Lincoln teased.

"Ew gross, that's my mom," Sid fake gagged.

"Are we still doing the family joke?" Lincoln asked.

"Joke? What on Earth are you talking about, Dad?" Sid teased.

"We're never going to be able to convince her, are we?" Ronnie Anne asked Lincoln.

"Same way we can never convince you to like dinosaurs," Lincoln replied.

"Are you seriously still caught up on that!?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Yes!" Lincoln said emphatically. "I've never met anyone in my life who wasn't interested in dinosaurs. Even my sisters have been into them at one point!"

"Sorry, I just never saw the appeal," Ronnie Anne said. "Like, I remember sitting in class thinking "Wow, this is so boring. When are we going to talk about something cool, like Ancient Egypt or something?""

"Why Ancient Egypt specifically?" Lincoln asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Ronnie Anne replied. "The Egyptians had one of the most advanced civilisations of pre modern times. They were also way more interesting than some giant three toed lizards."

"You must be real fun at parties," Lincoln deadpanned.

"You're right, I'm always the life of the party!" Ronnie Anne argued. "Meanwhile, you're always the party idiot who everyone laughs at, not with."

"At least I get invited to parties!" Lincoln retorted.

"Being invited to your little sister's tea parties doesn't count," Ronnie Anne replied.

"Hey, I bet I've been invited to more parties than you," Lincoln said.

Meanwhile, a few feet away, Sid cooed "Awwww, even when they argue they look so cute!"

"Are those two dating?" Asked a random onlooker.

"Yes, but they don't know it yet," Sid answered before Ronnie Anne and Lincoln turned to look at her and shot her a glare. "Uh oh, looks like I've gotta run!" She said before turning and running.

"Sid, get back here!" Ronnie Anne said. "What have I told you about telling people that me and Lame-O dating!?"

"Come on mom, it's no big deal, I'm just telling the truth," Sid laughed as the two chased after her.

"You're in big trouble, little missy, just you wait!" Lincoln said.

"I thought you two said you wouldn't give me a reaction anymore," Sid pointed out.

"That's right, we did say that," Ronnie Anne said, with Lincoln added "But when our daughter disobeys, it's only necessary that we discipline her."

"What are you even going to do?" Sid asked, zig zagging past people as the chase continued.

"Stop running and you'll find out," Ronnie Anne said.

"Yeah, I don't think I will!" Sid retorted before she stopped in front of one of the fossils to take a good look. "Ooh, pretty!" She said before she resumed running away.

"You're a really bad influence on her, you know?" Ronnie Anne told Lincoln.

"Me?" Lincoln asked. "How am I the bad influence? She hangs out with you more than she does me. If anything, you're the one who's the bad influence!"

"She literally didn't start acting out until she met you," Ronnie Anne said. "You started rubbing off on her in a bad way."

"I rub off on everyone," Lincoln said. "Like I said, I'm awesome and sort of a big deal!"

"More like a complete dweeb," Ronnie Anne said.

"Hey, you're the feisty free spirited one out of us," Lincoln argued. "How do we know she didn't pick up traits from you?"

"Because I would never teach her such things as the behavior she's exhibiting," Ronnie Anne replied. "I set a very good example for her."

"How long are we going to keep this whole mother father thing going?" Lincoln asked.

"I don't know," Ronnie Anne said. "Guess we just got a little carried away for a while."

"Yeah, I guess so," Lincoln agreed.

"Maybe Sid is right," Ronnie Anne said. "Maybe you and I really are dating and we just don't know it."

There was another reprieve as Lincoln and Ronnie Anne looked each other in the eye before simultaneously saying "Nah!", with Ronnie Anne even letting out a laugh.

"If we were dating, you'd probably be more mushy than your sister, Lori," Ronnie Anne laughed.

"And you'd probably be so infatuated with me you wouldn't be able to think straight," Lincoln laughed.

"Remember that time we spent all day pranking them?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Yeah, that was a rather fun day," Lincoln reminisced. "Although then again, they did get us back at the end."

"Still can't believe you fell for my brother's fake journal," Ronnie Anne chastised him.

"Hey, you fell for it too," Lincoln pointed out.

"Did I though?" Ronnie Anne asked with a smirk.

"Yeah, you did," Lincoln said. "You were fooled just like I was and don't even try to pretend otherwise."

"Maybe I did," Ronnie Anne said. "Or maybe I only pretended to fall for it and went along with it so that I could see you get pranked in the end."

"Yeah right, don't even try that bluff with me," Lincoln said. "I'm the man with a plan, remember?"

"The so called man with a plan," Ronnie Anne said with a friendly eye roll.

"Aren't we supposed to be chasing someone?" Lincoln reminded her.

"Oh yeah, where did she go?" Ronnie Anne asked as she and Lincoln stopped to take a minute to look around for Sid.

"Little bugger threw us off her trail," Lincoln said.

"This is all your fault," Ronnie Anne said. "You distracted me."

"This is no time for arguing," Lincoln said. "We've gotta find our daughter."

"Right!" Ronnie Anne said before spotting a gift shop. "I think I know where she went."

"Hmm?" Lincoln asked before Ronnie Anne pointed at the gift shop. "You really think she's in there?"

"Trust me, Sid can't resist cute novelty stuff," Ronnie Anne told him. "This gift shop is right up her alley."

"Ooh, this shirt is so pretty," Sid said as she walked around the gift shop before she spotted a nice looking fedora with a feather. "I wouldn't mind getting this hat either, looks snazzy."

Sid then looked up and saw Ronnie Anne and Lincoln standing in front of her.

"Oh, hi guys!" Sid cheerfully greeted them.

"You're in big trouble, Missy," Ronnie Anne scolded her.

"Running away from us and scaring us like that?" Lincoln continued on.

"Okay, okay, I know I might've messed up," Sid said before holding up the hat she had found. "But can one of you please buy this for me?"

"Sid, we-," Lincoln and Ronnie Anne said before Sid gave them the puppy dog eyes.

A few minutes later, Lincoln, Ronnie Anne and Sid were walking out of the gift shop, wth Sid wearing her brand new hat.

"Merry Christmas, Sid," Lincoln said to her with Ronnie Anne commenting "Wow, she really is our daughter."

**Day 8**

Following the experience at Animal Kingdom, the gang would be spending the next few days at the hotel before capping off their trip with a visit to Magic Kingdom on Christmas Day. Until that time came however, there was still plenty for the families to do while at the All Star Sports Resort. The most common thing for them today was take a dip in the pool or take a jog around the trail or even go up against each other at the arcade. For a certain introvert however, there was nothing better to do than stay in their hotel room and draw on his tablet. Or rather, paying a visit to the girls' hotel room so that he could draw while in the company of his best friend. While Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, Sid, Lynn, Lori, Chris and Bobby were at the arcade, Lana, Lola, Lily, Adelaide, Scotia, Rita and Jubilee were at the playground, and Luna, Lisa, Leni, Lucy, Lynn Sr, and Crash were taking a dip in the pool, Lio was in the guys' hotel room, grabbing his stylus and tablet as he prepared to walk over to the next room. Lio made sure to bring a room keycard with him to make sure he didn't get accidentally locked out on his way out. One thing he wasn't expecting was to run into Luan the second he exited the guys' room.

"Going somewhere?" Luan asked cheerfully.

"Um… nooooo," Lio lied, or at least attempted to lie as he hid his tablet behind his back.

"Are you sure about that?" Luan asked.

"Alright, fine," Lio relented. "I was heading over to your guys' room to chill with Kat while you guys were away."

"I guess you really are _drawn_ to her, huh?" Luan giggled.

"Wow, there wasn't a _trace_ of subtlety with that one," Lio joked. "Wait, how did you know that I was going to draw?"

"Let's just say your behavior was more than a little _sketchy_," Luan said, giggling and asking "Get it?"

"Yeah, I get it," Lio chuckled. "So were you expecting me to come here or something?"

"I had a hunch," Luan smiled. "I mean, you two have been inseparable this entire trip."

"To be fair, I thought you'd appreciate having a reprieve from me being your obnoxious shadow," Lio said.

"You're not annoying," Luan assured him. "Although, it has been rather difficult setting up pranks without my assistant." She ruffled Lio's hair and said "I can't be too mad though, my little brother has his first girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend!" Lio insisted, his face turning bright red.

"Careful Lio, you're starting to sound like Lincoln," Luan told him.

"It's the truth," Lio said, "Kat and I are just friends."

"So you're saying that you don't have any feelings for her at all?" Luan raised an eyebrow at him. "I mean, you did call her your girlfriend yesterday."

"How did you find out about that?" Lio asked.

"Because you just told me," Luan laughed.

"Dang it, walked right into that one," Lio cursed under his breath. "How do I keep falling for that?"

"But seriously, you really like her, don't you?" Luan asked. "I mean, I've never seen you this confident before, no offense."

"None taken," Lio said, smiling and sheepishly saying "I guess she does sorta bring me out of my shell."

"I've noticed," Luan said. "She has to mean something to you if she can actually convince you to come out of hiding and have fun."

"She does mean a lot to me," Lio said. "She's the first person outside of the family that I've actually felt comfortable around the first time I met them." Lio sighed and said "Like, no offense to Clyde or even Chris, but I was absolutely terrified of them the first time I met them. With Clyde, it took at least 3 years before I felt comfortable to talk to him and with Chris, the only reason it didn't take me as long to get to know him is because he's been around Lynn since Lincoln and I were still in diapers and always felt like another member of the family. With Kat, things were different. Even though I was still nervous the first time I met her, I still felt at ease when I spoke to her. It just felt like we had a genuine connection."

"Then why don't you ask her out or something?" Luan asked.

"There are a couple of problems with that," Lio said. "One, I wouldn't have the first clue on how to ask her out. Like what the heck would I even say to begin with?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but aren't you both otakus?" Luan asked. "Why can't you just find a quote from one of your favorite animes or something?"

"Pfft, what am I supposed to say?" Lio asked before sarcastically saying "Equivalent Exchange! I'll give half of my life to you if you give half of yours to me!"

"Aside from the fact that that sounds like you're proposing to her rather than asking her out, I think that sounds cute," Luan said.

"Thanks, but I don't think Kat would see it the same way," Lio said, sulking for a moment. "Although then again, she might appreciate the reference…"

"Hey, go for it," Luan said before asking "So if that's the first thing that's stopping you, what's the second thing?"

"I… I…" Lio said, struggling to find the words before he finally just came out and said it. "I just don't think Kat likes me like that!"

"Are you serious?" Luan replied. "You do remember that she called you her boyfriend just last week, right? Why would you think that she doesn't like you back?"

"What is there to like about me?" Lio asked. "I mean, compared to the other couples, I've got nothing going for me. I'm not tall, dark, and handsome like Bobby, I'm not smart and fun like Chris, and I'm not clever and charming like Lincoln. I'm just boring old Lio Loud, the idiot who makes JoJo references."

"Do you really think that there's nothing interesting about you?" Luan asked.

"Nothing that I can think of," Lio replied.

"Let me tell you just how wrong you are," Luan said. "You're a great listener, you're very protective of those you care about, you've got a great sense of humor and whenever you come out of your shell, you can be really charismatic. Not to mention you're a great artist. After all, you're the one who designed my new Funny Business logo"

"But aside from that, what is there?" Lio asked. "Look at Lincoln, he's got the charm, the wit, the charisma, the confidence, everything! He's the total package!"

"Have you ever thought that maybe you shouldn't compare yourself to Lincoln?" Luan asked. "You may be twins, but the two of you are very different."

"Obviously," Lio said. "He's better than me in so many ways that it isn't even funny."

Luan sighed and said "You're never going to get confident if you keep comparing yourself to Lincoln. You've gotta have faith in yourself."

"I wish I could," Lio said. "Really, I wish I could, but I just don't wanna jeopardize my friendship with Kat."

"You won't," Luan assured him. "I can't say too much, but what I can tell you is that she likes you more than you might think."

"Hmm?" Lio asked.

"If she didn't like you, do you really think she would risk getting in trouble by knocking out a girl at the aquarium for hurting you?" Luan asked.

"Well, I guess you have a point," Lio said.

"Trust me, Lio, when I say she likes you, I mean it," Luan told him. "And honestly the two of you really are perfect for each other, you both look so cute together."

"Yeah…" Lio said, blushing. "And the more that I think about it, it would be great to have my lieutenant as my girlfriend."

"You've gotta take the first step first," Luan pointed out. "Take it from me, don't let your nervousness get the better of you."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Lio asked.

"Because… I don't want you to make the same mistake I did when I first had a crush on Benny," Luan revealed. "I couldn't get over my nervousness and fear that he might not like me and made him think that I didn't like him. I almost lost my chance with him."

"Really?" Lio asked.

"Yeah," Luan said, smiling at Lio and saying "Kat clearly makes you happy so don't be afraid to go for it. Even in the slim chance she doesn't like you the same way, I doubt that would get in the way of your friendship."

"You know what, I think I will," Lio said. "Just not today… or tomorrow for that matter."

"Then when will you go for it?" Luan asked.

"Christmas, on Christmas Day," Lio said with a smile. "It'll be a nice compliment alongside the gift I made for her."

"I'm sure she'll love it," Luan said.

"By the way, why were you here instead of with the others?" Lio asked.

"Oh, I just um…" Luan tried to think of a reason. "I just forgot my scrunchie and came back to get it!"

"Oh," Lio said, not fully believing Luan's story. "Okay."

"You and Kat have fun," Luan said before she turned to walk away, but not before giving Lio one last piece of advice. "Oh, and one last thing: please stop comparing yourself to Lincoln and selling yourself short. There's nothing wrong with you and you're awesome just the way you are."

"Thanks," Lio said before Luan left. He then knocked on the door to the girls' room and found Kat waiting for him.

"Well, well, well, someone seems to be a little late," Kat said. "For a second, I thought that you had forgotten about me."

"I could never forget about you," Lio said. "I was just having a brief talk with Luan."

"How coincidental, I was also having a talk to Luan not too long ago," Kat said with a smirk.

"Was it about me again?" Lio asked.

"Sheesh, you're so vain," Kat teased. "Do you think every conversation is about you?" She then laughed and said "But seriously though, your name did come up a few times."

"Really?" Lio asked.

"Yeah," Kat said. "I kinda wish I had a sister like yours, she seems really cool. Not to mention she's pretty protective when it comes to you."

"What do you mean?" Lio asked.

"Well, your sister told me about how much you're not a people person and how I'm the first person to really connect with you," Kat explained. "Then she said that if I ever hurt you or broke your heart that she would prank me into oblivion."

"Oh my DIO, I'm so sorry!" Lio apologized, a little embarrassed by Luan sticking up for him in that manner. "I'm sure she didn't mean it or was just-,"

"It's fine, Lio, really!" Kat laughed. "I think it's awesome that you have a sister willing to stick up for you like that. Although I will say… she was scarier than your sister Lucy when she said that."

"Trust me, you should see her on April Fools," Lio said. "That's when she's at her most terrifying!"

"I believe you!" Kat said before asking Lio "Well, now that you're here, what do you wanna do?"

"So… you know that comic I talked about drawing a few days ago?" Lio asked. "The one about Jotaro meeting Stephen Hillenburg?"

"Yeah," Kat said.

"Well, check this out!" Lio said before opening his tablet and showing Kat the completed comic he'd been drawing for the past few days.

"Wow, you work quick," Kat complimented him as she read the comic. "Awww, and this comic is just so cute and wholesome with Jotaro telling Stephen that he's a fan of his show and thanking for potentially getting more kids interested in marine biology. Awwww! You even snuck a smol Jolyne into the comic too!"

"I'm glad that you like it," Lio said.

"Like it? I love it!" Kat exclaimed. "This is just too cute! Seriously, how do you get ideas like this?"

"Well sometimes I find a little inspiration from my Lieutenant," Lio said, smiling at her.

"You mean to tell me that you drew this because of little ole me?" Kat asked.

"It was our conversation at the aquarium that brought this idea into my head," Lio reminded her. "Speaking of which…"

"What?" Kat asked.

"You never did tell me what your dreams and aspirations are," Lio reminded her. "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"I told you, my dreams are boring," Kat said. "You'd just laugh at me."

"I already told you that I wouldn't," Lio said. "Nothing you say can be considered boring to me."

"Do you promise that you won't laugh at me?" Kat asked.

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Lio promised. "You have my word that I won't laugh no matter what you say."

"Alright," Kat said. "The truth is… I wanna be a doctor when I grow up."

"How is that boring?!" Lio asked. "Being a doctor would be like, super special awesome! Like, you could end up being like the Rockbells or Tenma or Dr. Kureha!"

"Does that include living to be 141 years old?" Kat asked with a laugh.

"Sure," Lio said. "Although maybe you'd be in your prime when you reached 89 years old."

"I hate to sound like a broken record, but could I really be a head doctor at 89 years old!" Kat joked.

"Why did you think that I would laugh at you?" Lio asked.

"Because…" Kat said, "compared to being a world famous mangaka, being a doctor sounds so… mundane and just… dull."

"That couldn't be further from the truth," Lio said. "Just think about the powerful combination we'd make… I'd make manga that would knock people's socks off with heart stopping action and storytelling, and then you'd be there to resuscitate them and bring them back to life!"

"Well when you put it like that…" Kat said with a smile.

"Is your dream of being a doctor the reason you were able to identify my eye injury from a few days ago as being a corneal abrasion?" Lio asked.

"Yeah," Kat said. "It's never too late to get a head start on chasing your dreams, you know? I just hope that if…"

"When," Lio corrected her.

"When I become a doctor," Kat said, "that I'm a good one."

"As long as you don't pull a Shou Tucker, I could see you being a great doctor," Lio complimented her.

Kat let out an expletive that expressed deep contempt for Shou Tucker before realizing what she said and covering her mouth in shock.

"Lieutenant, I can't believe you!" Lio playfully admonished her.

"I'm so sorry, it just slipped out!" Kat apologized, blushing profusely.

"I don't like Shou Tucker myself, in fact I hate him, but do you see me using such foul language?" Lio continued to tease her. "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"No, but I do kiss you with it," Kat replied.

"What?" Lio asked before Kat planted a kiss on his lips. Despite being quite surprised by her actions, Lio reciprocated the kiss in full. When they finally broke contact, both kids were blushing profusely.

"I'm so sorry, but I just couldn't resist," Kat apologized, blushing hard. "That was just the perfect opportunity, I couldn't pass it up."

"I'm glad you didn't," Lio admitted. "That was… nice."

"So you don't hate me for stealing a kiss or anything?" Kat asked.

"No, not at all, why would I hate you?" Lio asked.

"I don't know," Kat said. "It's just that… I know you're not much of a people person so I didn't know how you'd react to a kiss."

"Yeah, but with you, it's different," Lio explained. "I could spend an eternity with you and I'd never get bored. I could never get mad at a kiss from you. In fact…"

Lio then gave Kat another kiss, causing them both to blush yet again.

"Your lips taste like cherry," Kat observed.

"Rerorerorerorero…" Lio teased. "But in all seriousness, Lori gave me this awesome lip balm that was cherry flavored so that explains that."

"So… does this mean we're going out now?" Kat asked.

"It can, if you want it to," Lio said.

"I don't know," Kat said. "Not that I don't like you, but hooking up on such a random day… it just doesn't have the same spark."

"I know what you mean," Lio said. "I was actually thinking the same thing to be honest."

"What do you say we wait until Christmas before we start officially going out?" Kat asked.

"That sounds vastly more fitting," Lio agreed, smiling at Kat. "Man, this is shaping up to be the greatest Christmas of my life."

"Mine too," Kat agreed. "I guess all that talk about us being lovebirds is about to come true."

"And if you can believe it, there are still some gifts you have coming your way," Lio told her.

"Ooooooh! Whatcha get me? Whatcha get me?" Kat asked excitedly, bouncing up and down.

"Ah ah ah, you'll have to wait until Christmas to find out," Lio told her.

"Dang it, you're no fun sometimes, you know that?" Kat poured.

"Sorry Lieutenant, but the laws of Christmas state that I have to leave my present for you a secret," Lio said. "I just hope you'll like it."

"Lio, you could get me a ball of mud and I'd treat it like it was more valuable than gold," Kat told him. "I'm sure I'll love it."

Lio smiled at her and said "Thank you Kat."

"So, what do you say I watch you draw some cute art?" Kat asked.

"I thought you'd never ask," Lio said as he grabbed his tablet and began drawing some new art.

**Christmas Day**

The most magical day of the year had finally arrived and with it came the trip to the final destination of this family vacation, The Most Magical Place in the World… Disney's Magic Kingdom. It almost felt like a storybook ending to be spending Christmas at Disney World. Of course, the gang hadn't even left the resort just yet, having instead opened their presents before they began showering and getting ready to go. Two of the Loud siblings had very special gifts for their special someone that they were making sure they wouldn't forget as they prepared to head out. For Lynn Loud Jr. and Lio Loud, this would be one of the most important days of their lives and they were determined not to screw it up. And while Lincoln might not have known it, today was going to be rather important for him too.

As they finished getting dressed, Lio and Lynn each grabbed the gift they had picked out for their significant other. For Lynn, it had been a specially designed T-shirt that she had planned on giving Chris at his birthday party, but had backed out of doing at the last minute. For Lio, his gift for Kat was something that he had slaved over for hours to craft by hand. He'd spent so much time making sure it was perfect. For both siblings, even though one could say they were already unofficially dating their partners, presenting their gifts would mark the turning point to where their relationship became official. Where both siblings could officially acknowledge themselves as being the "girlfriend/boyfriend" of their partners.

Lynn and Lio weren't the only ones who had something special to give their partners. Lincoln himself had spent two weeks drawing and writing a comic book that detailed his and Ronnie Anne's ever evolving relationship. A comic that was meant to illustrate just how far they had come since their first encounter. Unlike his siblings however, Lincoln didn't intend to use his present to cement official boyfriend/girlfriend status, but rather to commemorate his friendship with Ronnie Anne. At least, that was the intention. As Lincoln would come to soon find out, plans could always change.

As the entire group left their hotel rooms and headed downstairs to walk to the bus stop and wait for the Disney bus to take them to the park, Lio had a brief conversation with Lynn.

"So today's the big day," Lio said. "Are you ready?"

"Like I told you, little bro, I was born ready," Lynn replied.

"So you're not going to flake out of giving Chris his special gift this time?" Lio asked.

"I've got his present right here and ready to go," Lynn said, pulling Chris' shirt out from under her own jacket before quickly stuffing it back inside before Chris could see it. "What about you? Are you finally going to be a man by asking Kat out?"

"Keep watching and you'll see," Lio winked at her. "Oh, and by the way, to be a man you must be swift as a coursing river, with all the force of a great typhoon, with all the strength of a raging fire, mysterious as the dark side of the moon!"

"What's got you in such a singing mood?" Lincoln asked as he passed by the two of them. "Are you finally going to tie the knot with Kat today?"

Lincoln was expecting a witty and teasing retort such as "I don't know, are you going to tie the knot with your sweet Ronnie Anne" or something similar, but instead Lio smirked at him and replied with a "Who knows Linc? You may see a Christmas miracle." Before walking away.

"Well, that was uncharacteristic of him," Lincoln noted. "Normally he'd have a taunt about me being in love with Ronnie Anne or something."

"Maybe he really is going to ask Kat out today?" Sid suggested. "Which means that I… technically lost the bet."

"What do you mean?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"The bet was that Lio and Kat would hook up before New Years," Lincoln explained. "You, Lynn, Luna, Luan, Chris and I all took it a step further by betting that they'd hook up either before or on Christmas. Sid thought they were too oblivious."

"How many people were in on this bet again?" Lynn asked.

"Let's see: You, me, all of our sisters, Mom and Dad, Clyde, Chris, his brother Shogo, Luan's mini harem of Benny and Maggie, Luna's girlfriend Sam, Ronnie Anne and her brother Bobby, Sid and her sister Adelaide, my friends Stella, Zach, Rusty and Liam, my teacher Ms. Johnson, Pop Pop, and I think Chandler too…" Lincoln said.

"Wow, that many!?" Sid asked incredulously.

"What can I say?" Lincoln replied. "I wasn't lying when I told Lio that literally everyone could see the chemistry between him and Kat."

"How much was at stake?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"I think the overall betting pool added up to around 250 total," Lincoln said.

"Huh… neat," Lynn said before smirking at Lincoln and asking "But seriously, are you going to ask out Ronnie Anne today?"

"For the last time, we are not-," Lincoln tried to say before Rita announced "Come on kids, the bus is here, let's not waste any time!"

"Yeah Linc, don't waste time trying to deny your true feelings!" Lynn teased him one last time as they all got on the bus.

As to be expected, the Louds all sat next to their significant others. Lori sat next to Bobby, Lynn sat next to Chris, Ronnie Anne sat in between Lincoln and Sid, and Lio sat next to Kat. All four exchanged idle chit chat as they made their way to the park.

"I can't believe Christmas is finally here," Chris said to Lynn.

"Yeah, me neither," Lynn said. "Can you believe that this is our eighth Christmas together?"

"Man, where does the time go?" Chris asked.

"I guess it's like the old saying goes," Lynn said. "Time flies when you're having fun." She grabbed Chris' hand and said "And when I'm with you, the fun never ends."

"Even when I'm being too slow for your liking?" Chris asked. "Or when I'm telling you to chill out and take a second to breathe?" Chris smiled and asked "Or even when I'm being a 'fun nazi'?"

"All those times and more," Lynn said. "Feels like there's never a dull moment between us." She laughed and said "I don't even think it's possible for us to have a bad time together."

"I'm inclined to agree," Chris said.

"I can't wait to show you what I got you for Christmas," Lynn said.

"You can show me right now if you want to," Chris told her.

"But that would be so boring!" Lynn said. "You know I like going all out and for you, that's no exception."

"Awww, thanks," Chris said. "Nice to know you think I'm worth a grandeur gesture."

"Chris, you are literally worth the world to me," Lynn said. "I mean that from the bottom of my heart."

"Lynn, I don't know if you know this," Chris said. "But I've had your back from day one and if it ever came down to you and me vs the world, I would stand by your side without hesitation."

"You and I, Chris," Lynn said. "You and I are going to take over this little blue rock."

Internally, Lynn was thinking to herself "Alright, Lynn, this is it. In just a few more minutes, the ball is in your court. Only difference is that this isn't your traditional game and in a very rare instance, you're in danger of losing and this prize is one not worth losing. Ugh, what am I saying to myself?"

"Are you okay Lynn?" Chris asked, noticing the distant look in her eye. "You had that look again, the one where you're losing your focus."

"I'm alright," Lynn said. "I was just thinking about the gift I got you and hoping that you like it."

"Lynn, you didn't have to get me anything at all," Chris explained. "You being here is enough of a present to me. Whatever you got me, I know you're going to love it."

From his seat, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were sticking their tongues out and going "blegh!"

"Like no offense, lame-o, but when did Lynn turn into Lori?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Beats me," Lincoln shrugged. "Guess it comes with the territory of being in love."

"If that's the case, does that mean I should expect you two to get all mushy and lovey dovey?" Sid asked.

"You know, since it's Christmas, I'm going to let that slide," Ronnie Anne said, lighting punching Lincoln in his arm and saying "Besides, lame-o and I are way too hardcore to get caught up in emotions like we're in a soap opera."

"Yeah," Lincoln said. "Not that this loser would know anything about showing affection in the first place."

"Hey, I've shown you plenty of love and affection," Ronnie Anne said, "and if you disagree, I'll beat you up!"

"Oh come on Ronnie, you know you wouldn't dare ruin this beautiful face," Lincoln said, posing for a brief second.

"I call you cute one time and you let it go to your head," Ronnie Anne rolled her eyes.

"You also said that I had soft hands that feel like a cloud when you hold them," Lincoln winked at her.

"Sid!" Ronnie Anne yelled.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Sid apologized. "But you know I can't keep quiet when I hear or see something so cute and wholesome!"

"Don't be embarrassed Ronnie Anne, plenty of girls would kill to be able to hold hands with yours truly just once," Lincoln said as he held her hand. "You though, you can hold my hand any time you want."

Ronnie blushed and sheepishly said "Well, your hands are pretty soft… and warm. I honestly wouldn't mind holding them all day."

"Well since we're going to be spending all of today at the most magical place on Earth and it is pretty cold today, why don't you let me keep your hands warm for you," Lincoln offered, smiling at Ronnie Anne.

"I'd… I'd really like that, lam- I mean Lincoln," Ronnie Anne said, smiling back at him while Sid was practically gushing with joy watching her two best friends share a moment.

"I've gotta ask though," Lincoln said. "Don't you miss spending Christmas with your family at all?"

"Of course I miss them," Ronnie Anne said. "My mom has always made Christmas extra special for me and my brother and spending time with my extended family has been nothing but awesome…" She then looked Lincoln in the eye and said "But spending Christmas with you is something I've wanted to do ever since I met you."

"Do you really mean that?" Lincoln asked. "No offense Ronnie, but you're starting to sound rather mushy…"

"Eh, who cares?" Ronnie Anne replied. "So I slip up every once in a while, big whoop. I meant everything I said."

"Now that's the Ronnie Anne I know and…" Lincoln said before stopping himself.

"What?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"Nothing," Lincoln said. "It's just that using the L word would sound so weird… and it would probably ruin the moment."

"Big time," Ronnie Anne said. "If you said that, I would've thought that you'd gone crazy or something."

Both Lincoln and Ronnie Anne looked at Sid, expecting her to say something. Instead the shoulder shimmying fun loving girl was watching excitedly.

"What? I'm just watching at this point," She told them. "I don't wanna ruin the cute moment the two of you are having."

"Honestly I'm surprised you didn't take a picture and say something like "this is going in my scrapbook" or "I'll make sure this memory is immortalized until the end of time"." Ronnie Anne said.

"I'm just waiting for the right moment," Sid said, smirking at the duo. "That moment hasn't happened yet, but it will."

"I don't like that sound you have in your voice," Ronnie Anne said. "What are you planning?"

"I'm not planning anything," Sid insisted. "Just spending a wonderful Christmas with the two friends I cherish the most."

"You know, it's kinda hard to believe just how wild this ride has been," Lincoln said. "Now that it's Christmas, it feels like we're getting close to a storybook fairytale ending or something."

"I know what you mean," Ronnie Anne said. "Still, these past two weeks have been some of the most fun I've ever had in my entire life."

"Tell me about it," Lincoln said. "Maybe we should do something like this every year."

"I don't know if I'd be able to make it on a trip to Disney every year," Sid and Ronnie Anne said.

"It doesn't have to be during Christmas or at Disney every year," Lincoln said. "Like maybe we could get together during the first week of spring or over summer vacation, just all of us coming together to celebrate."

"That does sound awesome!" Sid said. "You guys might be Loud, but you sure do know how to have a good time!"

"Same to you," Lincoln said.

"Who knows? Maybe next time we can bring all of my family too," Ronnie Anne suggested.

"You know what they say, the more the merrier!" Lincoln said.

"Yeah, but then we'd really be crowded," Ronnie Anne pointed out. "Heck, even you guys would be bunched up elbow together,"

"Modern problems require modern solutions," Lincoln said. "We'll simply get 3 hotel rooms instead of just two,"

"Wow lame-o, you truly are a genius," Ronnie Anne said sarcastically. "I can see why your sisters call you the man with a plan."

"I know, right," Lincoln said. "What would you all do without me?"

"Oh brother," Ronnie Anne sighed.

"Hey, we're here!" Sid shouted as the bus came to a halt.

"Well, here we go," Lincoln and Ronnie Anne said.

The group slowly got off the bus and took a moment to marvel at the beauty that was Walt Disney World. For this festive holiday, the park had been decorated appropriately, with Christmas lights and ornaments hanging from buildings. There were even a few Christmas trees spread out throughout the park and a few mistletoe hung over a few key areas. There was a light sheet of snow on the ground with more coming down, serving to make Disney look even more like a winter wonderland, especially with the Magic Kingdom castle faintly visible in the background. It truly felt like a once in a lifetime experience. It took a couple of seconds before the shock wore off and everyone realized that yes, they truly were spending Christmas Day at Disney.

"Well gang, looks like we finally made it!" Lynn Sr announced. "The final stop on our Christmas vacation and it's sure not to disappoint."

"I can't believe we're actually here," Leni said. "Like, I've always dreamed of coming here since I was a kid!"

"Same," Lori said. "I didn't think we'd ever get the chance to come here."

"Even I have to admit that there's something magical about this place that even I couldn't resist," Lucy chimed in.

"So which rides are we going to get on first?" Leni asked.

"Forget the rides, I wanna see some Disney characters," Kat said. "Where the heck is Mickey?"

"Gosh darn it, If there's no Mickey, this stuff ain't Disney!" Lio added before the two high fived each other.

"Is there… something I'm missing here?" Asked a confused Lori.

"Stone Ocean reference," Lio explained.

"Before this trip even started, Lio and I promised that we were going to make a Stone Ocean reference as soon as we got to Disney," Kat elaborated further.

"You two nerds really are perfect for each other," Lynn said.

"Thanks!" The two of them said in unison.

"Well you two aren't the only ones who made a promise," Ronnie Anne said. "Lincoln and I said that we were going to get on Space Mountain and there's no way we're backing out now."

"But it's snowing," Luna pointed out. "Promise or not, I don't think that would be very safe, bruh."

""We've come too far to let a few drops of frozen water stop us from getting on one of the most exciting rides in the park," Lincoln said. "Besides, we can always get some hot chocolate after we get off the ride to help us warm back up."

"I still don't know if I wanna let you kids get on a ride where you can get soaking wet on such a cold day," Rita said. "What if you catch a cold or get a fever?"

"Please mom," Lincoln begged. "We promise we'll be fine. This is our last day here, we just have to do this."

"Alright, I'll allow it," Rita conceded. "Just make sure you take good care of yourselves when you do."

"Honestly, I don't know if there are any rides I want to get on," Lisa said. "Most of the really good rides require me to be taller and the ones that are available are rather juvenile in tone."

"I wanna get on the teacup rides!" Adelaide said.

"Me too!" Scotia said.

"You girls go ahead and do that," said Lola. "The first place I'm visiting is the boutique so that I can get the princess makeover that I deserve! Right, Dad?"

"Oh, that's right, I did make those reservations, didn't I?" Lynn Sr said, Lola's comment having jogged his memory. "Well as I said before, anything for my little princess."

"Speaking of reservations, I'm still upset that I couldn't get us all reservations for Cinderella's Royal Table," Crash lamented. "That would've been the perfect way to end this trip."

"Don't beat yourself up over it, dear," Jubilee said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Booking reservations for a family of four requires you to make plans up to at least six months in advance, booking reservations for a party of 23 would've been next to impossible."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Crash said. "Still, I feel like I let you guys down."

"You didn't let us down, Dad," Chris assured him. "This entire vacation has been awesome!"

"Yeah!" The others agreed with Lincoln saying "So what if we don't get to eat at some fancy restaurant?"

"Yeah, all those fancy dinner plans are for the birds anyway," Ronnie Anne added.

"I bet their food isn't even half as good as the stuff my dad can make," Lincoln said.

"So you're not mad?" Crash asked.

"Not at all, dude," Luna told him. "This trip wouldn't have even been possible without you guys."

"I guess you have a point," Crash said. "Alright, enough sitting around and moping, let's have ourselves some fun!"

"Before we split up though, there's something I wanna do," Lynn said, grabbing Christmas by his hand and saying "Follow me."

The others (aside from a certain few) had no idea what Lynn was planning and shrugged their shoulders as they followed behind Chris and Lynn. Lynn walked all the way down Main Street, through the center of the park until she arrived at her intended destination, right outside the doors of Cinderella's castle. The scene was perfect and the time was just as right as it would ever be for what she was planning on doing. The rest of the gang watched as Lynn looked Chris in the eye and said a few kind words about her best friend.

"Chris, you've been my best friend for practically all my life," Lynn said. "From the day I first met you, I felt something different about you compared to all the other kids I hung around. I felt like you were someone that I could trust. Someone that I could be myself around, someone that I didn't have to hide anything from. If I had anything I needed to talk to you about, I knew that I could trust you, that you wouldn't judge me or think any less of me no matter what I said. When we first became friends, I knew then and there that I had someone for life. You've been there for me during my highs and my lows. And I mean, you've been there when I practically hit rock bottom. You were always understanding whenever I had a problem on my mind. Even if I've changed a lot since the day we became friends, you haven't. You're still the loyal, smart, kind hearted, understanding person you were when I met you."

"Lynn, I…" Chris said, only for Lynn to continue.

"Words can't express just how much I care about me and how thankful I am for you always being there for me," Lynn said. "Even during the times we haven't seen eye to eye, you've always been on my mind. For a long time, I didn't know how to tell you just how much you mean to me, until today that is."

"What do you mean?" Chris asked. Unzipping her jacket, Lynn pulled out a T-shirt and presented it to Chris. The shirt had a white and blue color scheme and featured the infamous blue shell item from the Mario Kart series. "What is-?"

"You of all people know much I aspire to be the best at everything I do, how much I try to be number one," Lynn said, chuckling and saying "I mean, it's even on my jersey," as she gestured a her "#1" jersey. "In Mario Kart, the most powerful weapon is the blue shell because it goes after and takes down the player in first place."

Chris couldn't help but smile wide and blush as he asked "Are you saying…"

"As hard as I try to be first in everything, I'd be nothing without you… you are the blue shell to my first place," Lynn said. "Which is why I gave you this shirt for Christmas to represent our bond."

"Lynn… Lynn, I'm speechless," Chris said, giving Lynn a hug. "Thank you, thank you so much! I love it!"

"Really, you do?" Lynn asked.

"Of course I do!" Chris said, taking off his jacket so he could put on his new shirt. When he put his jacket back on, he intentionally left it unzipped so that he could show off his gift. "In fact, I love it!"

"I'm glad I didn't disappoint," Lynn said. "Now there's something else that I wanna ask you?"

"Huh?" Chris asked.

Lynn took a deep breath as she looked Chris in the eyes before she came out and said "Like I said, we've been best friends for years, but I was wondering if you'd… maybe like to take our relationship to the next level."

"Do you mean?" Chris asked.

"Chris, I'm asking you…" Lynn said, taking a deep breath, "Do you wanna go out with me?"

Chris was stunned speechless once again and couldn't find the right words to say right away. Instead, he did what only felt natural and planted a kiss on Lynn's lips.

"Does that answer your question?" Chris asked as he smiled at Lynn, prompting a round of cheers and applause from the rest of the gang.

"Well it's about time!" Lincoln said as he clapped alongside the others.

"Okay, it's official: this is the best Christmas ever!" Lynn said, grabbing Chris in a bear hug and giving him another kiss.

"Congrats you two," Lincoln said, giving Lynn a pat on the back. "You finally recognized your feelings for each other."

"The thing is, I've known for a long time," Lynn said. "I was just too afraid to make my move until the time was right."

"And what better time than now?" Chris said, wrapping an arm around Lynn and saying "You have no idea how happy I am and how good it feels that I can officially call Lynn my girlfriend."

"Ditto," Lynn said.

"Awwww, that was beautiful," Kat cooed, looking at Lio and whispering "Looks like we're not going to be the only ones hooking up today, eh Colonel?" Kat found that Lio was standing wide eyed and nervous as he looked at her. "Um… Colonel?"

"You okay, bro?" Lincoln asked his twin.

After a few seconds of stillness, Lio suddenly pointed at Kat and exclaimed "Equivalent Exchange! I'll give half of my life to you if you give half of yours to me!"

"Oh boy!" Lincoln said, knowing what was coming next as the group's eyes fell on Lio and Kat.

"Um… Colonel?" Kat asked.

"The day I met you, my life changed forever," Lio stated. "In the year that I've known you, I've gained confidence within myself that I didn't even know existed. You're someone that I can geek out with, someone I can be myself around, someone I can talk to all day long! If it weren't for you, I'd still be the scared little kid I was before. You've changed me for the better." Lio reached into his pocket and pulled out a necklace that featured a heart shaped centerpiece that had a red gemstone in the center of it. "For all intents and purposes, you are my ultimate life form, which is why I give this, the red stone of Aja!"

"Lio, this is beautiful," Kat said, accepting the necklace and giving Lio a huge hug. "That reminds me of a little something I made for you."

Kat reached into her own jacket pocket and pulled out a miniature golden arrowhead with a special design that made it resemble the requiem arrow.

"The Requiem arrow?" Lio asked, smirking and saying "Looks like our friendship is about to obtain its requiem form" he then pulled Kat close and said "And that you and I are going to become the ultimate lifeform couple."

"Wait a second, did you just say couple?" Lana asked.

"Oh yeah, we forgot to tell you, we kissed a few days ago," Kat said nonchalantly, embracing Lio as the two of them turned and winked at the others, who (with the exception of Luan) all had their jaws dropped to the ground.

"Yeah, we've actually been a thing for a while now," Lio admitted. "We just didn't wanna make it official and let you guys know until Christmas."

"After all, it is the most wonderful time of the year," Kat said.

"Haha, yes! That means we won the bet!" Lynn said, high fiving with Chris.

"Dang it!" Lola cursed. "I knew I should've bet on Christmas Day!"

"Hold on a second," Lio said, starting to put two and two together. "You were betting on when Kat and I would hook up?"

"More or less," Ronnie Anne shrugged.

"And I assume this is the same bet that Leni and Clyde were talking about?" Kat asked.

"Yes," Lincoln said.

"I can't believe this!" Lio said. "Just how many people were involved in this bet?" Everyone started whistling inconspicuously, causing Lio to remark "Wow."

"Eh, let them have their fun," Kat said, wearing the necklace Lio had made for her. "At least we have each other."

"Honestly, right now that's all I need," Lio said, giving Kat a quick kiss.

"Don't tell me you lovebirds are going to go all mushy too," Lincoln said.

"Sorry Linc, maybe if you had a girlfriend, you'd understand," Lio teased him.

"You know, it's never too late to get together with Ronnie Anne," Kat teased.

"That's what I'm saying!" Sid yelled.

"Yeah, as if," Lincoln said.

"Actually Linc…" Lori said, before pointing out that Lincoln and Ronnie Anne were both standing under the mistletoe.

"Hmm, how did that get there?" Lincoln asked.

"You know, I wouldn't mind getting a kiss from you on Christmas," Ronnie Anne said.

"Neither would I," Lincoln said.

The two of them quickly corrected themselves, saying "But it's not like I like you like that or anything, you big loser/lame-o!"

"Oh, will you two give it up already!?" Lynn, Lio, Kat, and Sid all said in stereo.

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne exchanged a look, allowing their eyes to meet before they shyly looked away from each other. Both of them wanted to give the other a kiss, but didn't know just how to go about it.

After a few moments, Lynn shouted at Lincoln "Well don't just stand there, kiss her you fool!"

"Not now Lynn," Lincoln growled before saying "Merry Christmas, Ronnie Anne," and giving her a smooch on the lips. The two didn't break contact for several seconds, simply enjoying each other's warmth. That was the moment when Sid snapped a picture.

"Now that's a moment worth remembering forever," Sid cheered.

"It's a Christmas miracle!" Lola exclaimed. "They finally kissed."

"So how does it feel to get your first real kiss from your girlfriend?" Lori asked.

"She's not my girlfr-," Lincoln said before correcting himself and smiling at Ronnie Anne. "Actually, I guess you can say she is."

"What?" Asked a surprise Ronnie Anne before Lincoln gave her the comic book he'd made for her.

"I've been working on this for weeks," Lincoln explained as Ronnie Anne read through it, blushing all the while. "Everything in this comic is about our blossoming friendship and how far it's come."

"Oh my gosh, Lincoln this is so cute!" Ronnie Anne squealed. "What gave you the idea to make this?"

"Simple," Lincoln explained. "You are one of my closest friends and whenever we get together, we always have a fun time!"

"Thank you so much!" Ronnie Anne said before noticing that the last page was blank. "Why is the last page empty?"

"Because," Lincoln said nervously. "I was hoping that maybe we could write the next chapter together. Our story is far from over and it'd be great if we could maybe become… more than just friends?"

"Lincoln, is this your way of asking me to be your girlfriend?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, but-," Lincoln said before Ronnie Anne answered his question with a kiss.

"Does that answer your question for you?" Ronnie Anne smirked at him.

"Well… my Christmas has peaked," Lincoln said. "No Christmas after this can ever come close to topping this one."

"Oh brother, don't tell me that you're growing soft on me now," Ronnie Anne laughed before grabbing Lincoln by his hand and dragging him away. "Come on lame-o, let's head over to Splash Mountain before the line gets too long."

"I couldn't agree more, loser," Lincoln said as he walked alongside her.

"Have fun you two!" Sid called after them, commenting "Man, I can't believe that even after they officially start dating, they still call each other names."

"Meh, let them do their thing," Lio said, arm wrapped around Kat. "Honestly, they were perfect for each other."

"Just like we were a match Made in Heaven," Kat said. "Quick, let's find a ride to get on before Pucci resets the universe!"

"Tell me Kat, do you believe in Gravity?" Lio asked as the two of them walked off, prompting Kat to reply "Oh my DIO, don't you start!"

"So babe, what do you wanna do now?" Chris asked Lynn as the group started to split up.

"You know what, it's our first day as a couple so how about I show you the world?" Lynn asked.

"Aladdin?" Chris asked.

"You know it," Lynn replied.

"Then let's go for it!" Chris said. "We've got a full day ahead of us and I'm going to make sure that this is your best Christmas ever!"

"You already have," Lynn said, resting her head on Chris' shoulder.

**END**


End file.
